Domina Lupa
by Geniusly-Unique
Summary: When Rose Tyler is born with some of that delicious thing called common sense, ripples spread throughout the universe with every creature she touches and every action she takes. (Because a single drop in an ocean can cause a tsunami.) A "What if" rewrite starting from series 1. Gradually separates from canon.
1. Rose - Part I

**This chapter is mostly about introducing how Rose's character and experiences have changed from the show. It's going to be pretty heavy with description and slow action, since it's Rose's life before the Doctor. (Plus, I need to reveal more about Rose.)**

**I tried my best to keep in line with the whole British thing, but I'm Canadian so I don't know all that much about British culture. Where knowledge garnered from watching BBC dramas, fangirling over British authored books/movies and reading fanfictions failed me, I had to do tons of research, especially on the English education system and British accents. If I get anything wrong, make sure to tell me so I can fix it.**

**I don't own Doctor Who or any corresponding characters/ monsters/ locations/ etc. Please don't sue me out of my one last sock, I need it for my mini puppet production!**

* * *

An obnoxious electronic beeping filled the air for several minutes until a slim hand shot out and smacked the alarm clock. A tangled mess of honey blonde emerged from underneath a thick quilt with a disgruntled groan. The feminine body attached to the hair sat up straight for a moment, before slowly slouching forward, eyelids drifting shut.

Blonde hair shot up again in a panic as a piercing scream ripped through the languid atmosphere. The woman quickly identified the source as a small mobile across the room and untangled herself from her pile of blankets. With a grumpy huff of air, she dragged herself towards the device and turned it off before trundling over to the connected bathroom to take a shower.

20 minutes later found a newly invigorated Rose Tyler toweling off her wet hair in front of her vanity, musing silently on the state of her roots. She combed her fingers through the damp locks to tame it into a neat sidesplit, then finished up with her make-up. Rose glanced at the hair dryer and then at the clock, sighing at the bright red lights that proudly declared it was '7:30'. Resigning herself to going to work with damp, wavy hair again, she padded over to a large antique dresser.

Her childhood mate Mickey had given it to her on her eighteenth, as a combined birthday present and early good-luck-on-your-A-levels gift. He'd been driving over to his buddy's place for a round of beers when he'd seen the thing, and Rose's fondness for "raggedy old things" (his words, not hers) that were "brimming with history" (her words, not his) had apparently been brought to mind.

He'd called in a favour from a mate who owned a van and had brought the thing to his shop to fix it up until it was functional. The dresser remained a bit battered and bruised despite Mickey's best efforts, but Rose loved the old thing more for it - and she told Mickey so too, thanking him so wholeheartedly that he'd ended up blushing.

Rose pulled the heavy wooden doors open and grabbed a pale pink blouse that she tucked into a black skirt. She dallied agonizingly between flats or heels before grabbing her mobile and bag and striding out of her room.

She had to at least _appear_ sophisticated and professional; as long as her boss didn't know that her classy shirt was a bargain sale item, or that her black cardie was something Bev gave her because it was too small for the woman, or that the skirt was her mother's, it was fine.

Dropping a kiss on her mum's cheek, she snatched up an apple and rushed out the door, eager to keep her reputation as a punctual, reliable employee.

The combined expenses of university and their usual costs of living were too much to handle without taking a gap year, and she needed to save up as much money as possible so she could continue with her education - considering she was barely finished with sixth form, Rose thought herself lucky to have gotten this rather well paying job. She couldn't give her boss any reason to fire her until she'd saved up enough money.

* * *

Rose was never so grateful for her greatest aspiration as when she was observing the shop girls in Henrik's. If her dream didn't require her to have fantastic grades, she wouldn't have gotten the A-levels she had. If she hadn't done her A-levels, she wouldn't be working as the personal assistant to a senior floor manager of a huge department store; instead, she'd be slaving away folding shirts, like those poor girls.

Now that she thought about it, Mr Perrella did have quite an eye for young, pretty women. That probably factored heavily in his decision to hire her despite her lack of experience - she had two out of the three down pat, through perhaps 'pretty' would be debatable according to the person asked.

Pulling out her PDA, Rose checked her to-do list. There was only two minutes left until everyone was sent home, and she still had to get the new inventory of electrical equipment to Wilson. Sighing heavily, she set upon the task immediately, walking back to her desk to print a copy of the list before setting off. Why Wilson wouldn't just accept an email attachment, she would never understand.

* * *

"Wilson? Wilson, it's Rose, I have the inventory. Wilson!" she called, knocking on the man's workshop door. She peered down the dark hallway, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't be murdered that night.

Rose readjusted her large saffiano tote - a Prada knockoff, but it looked real enough to earn her some respect with the office ladies - and gripped her clipboard in anxiety. She was rather uneasy at this unnatural silence. Why wasn't Wilson answering?

Hearing a clatter further down the corridor, the young woman treaded into the darkness, and entered a storage area full of boxed clothes and mannequins.

"Wilson, are you in here?" Rose pressed her ear against an employees-only door, hoping to hear the electrician confirming that he was, indeed, there.

She had left the double doors leading into the storage space open in case it locked automatically, but now they suddenly slammed shut. Alarmed, she rushed towards them. The doors wouldn't open no matter how hard she pulled and tugged; the endeavor merely left her with red hands, a slightly warped door handle, and no way out.

She walked further into the area to try to find another exit. Hearing the sound of squeaking plastic, Rose stopped and tilted her head slightly to the left. When she saw movement from the corner of her eye she whirled around to fully face the potential axe-murderer.

It wasn't a psychopath wielding a bloody knife.

Rather, one of the plastic dummies was advancing on her, somehow that much more threatening for its artificial features and pleasant expression.

"If this is a prank, it's not very funny," Rose informed the approaching plastic figures. She brandished her clipboard at the closest dummy, scowling furiously at it.

As dummies began to crowd her on all sides, the young woman found herself increasingly panicked.

"Whose idea was this? Is it Derek's? Derek, is this you?" Derek was the workplace prankster, and held a bit of a grudge against her after the fourth time she rejected him with a scolding for unprofessional behavior. Not that that had stopped him from a fifth, seventh, and tenth pass.

Rose tripped over a set of boxes and found herself plastered against a wall, her head pressed hard against a pipe as she furiously tried to find an escape path.

The only mannequin trying to outright hurt her was the one directly in her eyesight, so she inched to her left, where she could feel a draft. Hopefully, that meant there was an open doorway or window, and not a malfunctioning fan. If the guy were to strike, he would barely miss her face and hit her shoulder instead. Then she could pretend to be incapacitated and escape.

Just as the dummy raised its arm to attack, Rose found a large, warm hand fitting perfectly into her own. The world seemed to slow as she turned her head and drowned in electric blue eyes.

"Run."

The world sped back up and her attacker struck the pipe behind her mere moments after she was pulled away.

Rose and the mystery man deftly avoided the clear strips of plastic that briefly waylaid the dummies and sped down the dark hall into a service lift. Staring anxiously at the approaching plastic men, the two pressed themselves against the back of the lift as they waited for the doors to close.

One of the dummies managed to get its arm into the lift before it closed off completely. The stranger grappled with the arm, until Rose smacked the edge of her clipboard against the dummy's shoulder violently.

It finally came off with a pop.

She gaped at the item in the stranger's hands. "We pulled his arm off!"

"Yep. Plastic." He offered the arm to her.

"Okay, so I guess it's not students."

"What? Why not?"

She took the arm and examined it, allowing most of the adrenaline to drain away from her body. She could try to think logically now that she wasn't scared out of her wits. "At first I thought, 'must be students, to get that many people dressed up and being silly', but the arm detached much too cleanly... and it's solid plastic all the way through. Then I would have said, 'remote control', but as far as I know, remote control can't move around solid plastic limbs, especially not without framework, which there clearly isn't. Besides, that wouldn't account for the elbow, which was fluid earlier but apparently has no joint. The only remaining explanation that I can think of is highly improbable; shop windows dummies are _not_ sentient like in Toy Story."

Rose looked up. The man had been staring blankly at her since 'I thought' (most people tended to phase out when she spoke her thought processes aloud), but now his face was split into a wide, delighted grin that made her feel tingly all over.

_Stop it_, she told herself, trying to keep her normally tractable hormones in check. _He probably smiles this way at everyone. You_ _aren't_ _special_.

She was horribly unsuccessful.

"Impressive! Not just your typical dumb ape then; you're actually quite clever. Good for you."

Rose crinkled her nose at the possibly patronizing compliment but let it slide.

"So the dummies _are_ sentient?"

"Nah, not exactly. Your remote controlled theory was closer. But you'd be surprised."

She paused for a moment, remembering the reason she had been in the basement in the first place. "Wait, what about Wilson?"

"Who's Wilson?"

"Henrik's chief electrician."

"Wilson's dead," he told her gravely.

The lift doors slid open, but Rose couldn't bring herself to move. The man stood still and watched her.

"That's- that's sick! I didn't know him very well, but he... Wilson didn't deserve to die. He had a wife, and kids-" Rose grit her teeth against the tears in her eyes. "Whoever's controlling the dummies has to be stopped. You're gon' stop them, right? That's why you're here? I want to help, but I'm probably just gonna get in your way." She winced at the Cockney leaking out from her distress.

The stranger looked into her eyes and nodded. "I'll stop them. I promise."

His hand then shot out - impossibly fast - and caught the closing lift doors. He strode out and took a strange silver instrument to the lift mechanisms, making them spark brightly as he disabled the lifts with a high-pitched warble.

Rose decided she liked that curious noise.

When the stranger started walking again, she took a deep breath and hurried to catch up.

"Who are you, then? Will you explain what's happening?" The man glanced at her without turning his head.

"Those were living plastic creatures, though not sentient in the way you're thinking. They're being controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would put you in a spot of trouble if I didn't have this." He waved a small beeping device - a bomb, probably - that he pulled out of his jacket. "So I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go and live your clever little life, and forget all about what happened tonight. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."

He motioned her through a metal door. Stepping through it, Rose realised he'd led her outside, into a deserted alleyway. He waved at her and shut the door behind him, missing her wince.

She _was_ going to worry about him. She couldn't help it.

"If i' means anything, I don' wan' you to die. Please don' get hur'," she told the door. Sincerity caused her native Cockney to come out thickly, despite her automatic attempt to modify it into an Estuary.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, the door opened again and the man peered out with another grin, just as wide as the other, but somehow more manic.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!" She grinned at him and turned to rush out of the alley.

Rose heard the doors slam shut as she stepped onto the sidewalk, rejoining the rest of civilization. She reached the other side of the street without incident, and turned to stare at her workplace.

Nothing happened for about a minute.

Then the air pulsed with anticipation once, twice, three times...

The Henrik's building suddenly roared with a inferno that blazed first on the roof before speeding downwards, furiously destroying the infrastructure one floor at a time. The flames licked hungrily out the windows but thankfully remained within the confines of the building.

The people on the sidewalk screamed as glass rained down on them. Glad that Henrik's used tempered glass for all their windows, the young ex-PA scanned the bystanders for any nasty injuries, and, finding none, briskly walked back home.

Rose only remembered the arm still gripped tighly in her hand when she was already halfway there. Deciding that even if the plastic reanimated, it was far enough from Powell Estate for her mum and friends to be safe, she tossed the thing in a dumpster and went on her way, feeling silly when she zigzagged through different alleys, backtracked down a few streets and took a series of detours just in case.

* * *

"Mum, I'm home!" Rose called out as she slipped into the flat. She dropped her bag and clipboard beside the shoerack.

"Rose!" Jackie Tyler rushed over to her daughter and started patting her down for injuries. "What took you so long? I thought you were caught in the explosion! Don't ever scare me like that again!"

Rose gently grabbed her mum's wandering hands and placed them on both her cheeks, calmly meeting the woman's eyes as she allowed her to cup her face. "I'm fine, see? Not a single scratch. I'm perfectly fine. Now, how'd you know about the explosion?"

"Look at the telly!"

Surprised, Rose shuffled into the sitting room and stared at the television as it proclaimed, "The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire."

She vaguely registered her mum saying, "I'll go make you some tea." The image of the burning Henrik's building on television somehow made the events of that evening seem more real, as if she'd been trying to pass everything off as a dream before now.

"Early reports indicate..." Someone pounded heavily on the front door, interrupting the newsreader. Rose went to open it, eyes going wide when Mickey attacked her with a hug. She hesitantly patted him on the back.

He pulled back to scowl at her. "I've been phoning your mobile like mad! Do you know how worried I was?"

"You and mum, seriously," Rose laughed. When Mickey's expression remained stern, she dropped the smile off her face. The blonde leaned in and reassured her best mate the same way she had her mum. "I'm fine. Look, no injuries, see? I was far enough to avoid all the falling glass and flames."

Sighing, the young man followed her into the lounge and flopped onto the settee. "You're gonna give me an early death, you are."

"You're _such_ a drama queen," she chuckled. Jackie placed a mug in her hands. "Ooh, tea! Thanks mum, you're the best."

"And you'd do well not to forget it," Jackie told her, raising her own mug.

"So what happened?" Mickey prompted.

"I'm not really sure. I wasn't in the shop when it happened, thankfully. Maybe a gas leak?"

"They better give you compensation! You don't have enough to start university yet, and you know I can't help you with that. Do you want to talk to a reporter? I heard it's 500 quid for an interview." The telephone rang and Jackie rushed to pick it up. "Bev, call off the search party! She's alive, thank God, but she was in seconds of death. Do you think we should ask for a psychiatrist?"

Mickey turned to her and peered into her mug. "What're you drinking, tea? Do you need me to get you something stronger? I hear whiskey is good for people in shock."

"I'm alright though."

"No, no, you deserve a proper drink. You haven't gone down to the pub in a while. I'll treat you. How 'bout it?"

"Is there a match on tonight?"

"No, I'm just thinking about you Rose," Mickey replied, shifting his eyes.

"There's a match on, isn't there," Rose laughed.

"That's not the point, but we _could_ catch the last seven minutes."

"Then get going already! I'm really fine." Grinning, Rose reached up and gave Mickey a peck on the cheek before playfully shoving him to the door.

As Mickey left, Rose gave the newsreader her attention again. "... fire then spread throughout the store. Fifteen fire crews are in attendance though it's thought there is very little chance of saving the infrastructure."

* * *

Having turned in early the night before, Rose easily woke to her first alarm and turned off her second before it rang. She stepped into the shower and let the hot water soothe her tense muscles.

She didn't have work now. What would she do today?

_Well, proper breakfast for one. _She would save her mum from her own cooking today, though no one could beat Jackie Tyler's tea. Maybe she'd spend more time with Mickey. She'd been neglecting the poor guy. She was an awful best mate. _Oh_, she could have that shopping spree Jackie had wanted so much. She had been neglecting her mother too. And she might as well fix the radio while she was home, though no one really used it.

Rose stepped out of the shower smelling of vanilla and jasmine. She dried herself quickly and sped through the rest of her morning routine, once again not bothering with the hairdryer. Today, she decided on a pink vest top, a thin pink jumper, and black leggings. It was wonderful, wearing the comfortable clothes she loved rather than the posh looking costumes she had to put on for work.

* * *

The young blonde was putting the finishing touches on breakfast when she heard rattling from the front door. She threw parsley on her mum's eggs and placed the plate of buttered toast, eggs and sausages on the kitchen counter before heading off to the door.

"Mum, do you remember if I nailed down the catflap last week?" Because she clearly remembered doing so.

"You must have," the older Tyler replied. "Why?"

"No reason," Rose said, staring at the screws on the floor. The flap wiggled. Frowning in confusion, she bent down and peered through the small opening.

Rose found herself drowning in electric blue eyes for a second time. She jumped up and yanked the door open.

"What're you doing here?" the man said, sounding put out. "And what is this _flowery_ smell?"

Why in the world would he be put out, she wondered. And, more importantly, what was _he_ doing here?

"Probably my shampoo. And I live here," she said instead.

"Well, what do you do that for?" he replied petulantly.

If her eyebrows went any higher, they would be caught in her hairline. "I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to answer that. Besides, I'm only at home because _someone_ blew up my job."

The Doctor hmm-ed. "I must have got the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" He rapped sharply on her head, making her wince. "No, bonehead. Bye, then."

The Doctor shied away from her adorably grumpy look. He didn't want to get attached and ruin someone else's life.

Before he could leave though, Rose reached out and gripped his sleeve.

"You. Inside. Right now." When the Doctor remained reluctant, Rose added a, "please?"

She finally managed to pull him into the flat.

"Who is it?" Jackie called out. Rose peeked into her mum's room.

"It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes, mum. And, uh, cover up please?"

"She deserves compensation," Jackie told the Doctor as he appeared in her doorway.

"Oh, we're talking millions."

Jackie smirked coyly. "I'm in my dressing gown."

"Yes, you are."

"There's a strange man in my bedroom," she continued.

"Yes, there is."

Jackie fluttered her eyelashes. "Well, anything could happen."

Finally seeing where the conversation was going, he gave her a false grin. "No."

"Have you had breakfast yet? I'll make you some sausage and eggs," the younger Tyler interrupted from the kitchen.

The Doctor walked away from the now-glaring woman and into the lounge. "No I haven't. I really shouldn't, but I'm starving, so might as well. Thanks."

"How do you take your tea?"

"Coffee, actually. Just milk... I think? Or maybe sugar?" He wandered through the sitting room, trying to entertain himself as he waited.

He spotted a magazine on the coffee table. "That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien."

"What?" Rose asked, bemused. She stared at him through the window between the kitchen and sitting room. "Alien? How would you know that?"

He grunted uncommittedly and grabbed a paperback instead. He flipped it rapidly. "Hmm. Sad ending."

"Did you just- how could you possibly have gotten that from just flickering the pages like that?"

"Rose Tyler," he said, spotting her name on a trophy for gymnastics. "Fingers on lips."

She rolled her eyes and returned to her cooking, pointedly banging various cooking utensils as she worked.

While food sizzled deliciously in the kitchen, the Doctor caught his reflection in the mirror. "Ah, could've been worse. Look at the ears." He inspected himself, acting as if it was the first time he'd seen his own body.

He quickly bored of that and grabbed a pack of cards. After several unsuccessful attempts to shuffle the deck, he gave up and put it back.

Rose finally emerged from the kitchen balancing two plates and mugs. She placed the load on the coffee table and went back to grab a pitcher of water, some sugar and a milk carton. "You didn't sound too sure what your preference for coffee was, so I wondered if you'd perhaps never tried it before and was comparing it to something else you'd experienced, or were working with a suggestion someone else made to you. It's an americano in the mug. I thought maybe you should have something black and strong first, and then try experimenting."

The Doctor stared at her.

Rose winced - _I shouldn't have said anything_ - and distracted herself by digging into her breakfast.

After deciding that this body preferred its coffee black (and this americano was delicious by the way, has Rose Tyler ever thought of becoming a full time barista) the Doctor found that starving himself for several days did not translate to good table manners. After devouring his entire plate and consuming one of her toasts and several forkfuls of her eggs, he was in the middle of sneakily stealing Rose Tyler's last sausage when the cat flap began to rattle a second time.

"What's that, then? You got a cat?"

"No," the young woman replied. "Maybe it's a stray? Can you go check it out while I clean this up?"

The Doctor groaned but got up. This was much too domestic for his liking. He snatched up the sausage - "Hey!" - and strode over to the short hall as he chewed and swallowed. Seeing nothing, he turned back... and was met with a plastic arm that flew to his throat and began to strangle him.

The loud choking sounds eventually drew Rose out into the sitting room. Alarmed at the sight, she thought quickly and ran back into the kitchen to grab her torch lighter. Rushing to save the Doctor, she began to melt the plastic fingers, clumsily burning him three times.

"Hot! Couldn't you have found another way?" he complained when he could finally speak. "But thanks, I guess."

He pointed his whirring silver device - it had a glowy blue tip, she noted - at the half melted plastic arm and it stopped flopping about. Sighing, the Doctor decided the attacking plastic arm meant he had overstayed his welcome. He turned and rushed out.

* * *

He'd hoped to do the damn girl and her fantastic smelling hair a favor by leaving.

But she was following him.

Why was she following him?

"Why are you following me?"

"Well I can't just let you go swanning off, can I?"

"Yes you can. Here I am, swanning off. And this is you, letting me. See you."

"But that arm was moving autonomously. It tried to kill you!"

"Ten out of ten for observation," he remarked sarcastically. "Bonus points for fancy words."

"But... don't just walk away. Can't you at least tell me what's going on?"

"No, I can't."

"You said if I told everyone what's happened, I'd get people killed. So in exchange for not telling anyone, you can explain the situation to me. Quid pro quo."

"Is that supposed to sound tough?"

"... A bit. Is it working?"

"No."

"Who are you, exactly? What do you do?"

"Told you. I'm the Doctor."

"Yeah, but Doctor what? And I still don't know what you do."

"Just the Doctor. And you don't need to know."

"So, just... 'The Doctor'."

"Hello!"

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?"

"A bit. Is it working?"

"Not quite," she smirked. "So why do those plastic things keep popping up around me?"

"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you," he rolled his eyes. _Humans_. So full of self importance. "You were just an accident. It was after me, not you. Last night, in the shop, I was there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you is 'cos you've met me."

"So what you're saying is, the entire world revolves around you instead."

"A bit, yeah."

"You're full of it!"

"A bit, yeah." That made Rose laugh.

"But, all these strange occurances. Who else knows about it?"

"No one."

"What, you're on your own?"

She looked up at him with large, sad eyes. Not pitying, exactly, but as if she wanted to apologize that he had to experience such a thing. As if she was sincerely sorry she wasn't there to prevent it somehow. He glared at her.

_What would _she_ know?_

"Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."

"Okay," Rose said, now determined to help. "Let's start from the beginning. The living plastic - how did you stop it?

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."

"So that's the remote control you were talking about?"

"Thought control, more like. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, of course! I'm more than alright. So, who's controlling it, then?"

"Long story."

"Well what's this all for? I mean, living plastic, what's that about? Is it limited to shop window dummies or does it apply to all plastic things? Is someone trying to take over Britain? Or the world?"

"Yes."

"Yes? 'Yes', what yes?

"It controls all plastic. It wants to take over Britain. It wants the Earth. It wants to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?"

"Yes."

"Which explains why you're still here."

"Really, though, Doctor. Tell me, who are you?"

He didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." he drifted off for a beat. Then his gaze sharpened. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Please. Just go home."

The Doctor continued walking towards a tall blue police box while Rose stopped to watch him. She wanted to follow him, so badly, but the man was almost begging her to go away. So she would do it. She could handle a few hours of not badgering the poor guy.

Right in front of her eyes the blue box began fading in and out with a strange vworping noise. Air rushed around her, swirling her hair and clothes as the box finally disappeared from sight.

* * *

**Super long AN**

**So... how was it? ********Rose is the only changed person, the others are only affected due to her presence in their lives. **

**You can see that the Doctor, in response to Rose being less aggressive, is interacting with her on a more personal level. ****She is much the same character as in the show but more polite (education), more naïve, a bit nicer and with more logic.**

**With the dresser, I was trying to reveal more about Rose and Rose's relationship with Mickey through an insignificant detail. She adores things that are "bruised and battered and filled with history", so that's good news for our doctor, eh? ****Would you like me to add more such details?**

**For example, Rose's saffiano tote. It's meant to show that she can be tactical if she wants to accomplish something. Coworkers' respect is an invaluable thing in making your work easier, which is why she considered the kinds of people she was working with and made sure to carry an item that would earn their interest and respect, while making sure it's something practical that she actually needed. She can easily apply that kind of mindset for other things, like war. Yes, I know I tried to put too much thought into a random fashion item that no one would pay attention to.**

**Also, I thought, Rose + logic = Rose - Jimmy Stone = Rose - traumatising, life-changing experience = ****Rose + very naive + reckless (because Rose had to have been originally naive and reckless in the show, to just run off with a guy just because he was handsome and said he would be famous one day), which means Mickey and Jackie have become much more protective out of necessity. (A search party. Ha!) You'll see protective and less cowardly Mickey in the next chapter!**

**Please review, pretty pretty please!**


	2. Rose - Part II

**The last chapter was slow paced at the moments when the Doctor wasn't there because that's how Rose's life was before the Doctor: slow, boring, mostly solitary (so little dialogue haha), and filled with a needless abundance of unimportant descriptions. This one has a lot of Doctor, so it's quicker, and more interesting.**

* * *

Mickey parked his yellow beetle across the street from 'Clive's house, lecturing Rose all the while. "... and if he even so much as looks at you funny, you hightail it out of there, you hear?"

"Don't be such a worrywart. He's safe. He's got a wife and kids," Rose exited the car and Mickey accompanied her.

"Yeah, who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say," he chided as they crossed the street. One of Clive's neighbours, who was in the process of putting out the rubbish, gave Mickey a nasty look. Rose smiled awkwardly at the man in apology.

"Oh, and Mickey, stay away from any plastic," the blonde whispered when the man turned away. She glared suspiciously at the rubbish bin.

"What?"

"Just - I've never led you wrong before, right? Please just trust me on this."

Mickey was still looking at her funny as she knocked on the door to Clive's house.

A young boy opened it.

"Hello, I've come to see Clive? We've been emailing," she told him.

"Oh great. I _thought_ you were a bit too pretty to be normal," the boy said. Mickey snickered.

The young boy turned and yelled into the house. "Dad! It's one of your nutters!"

A middle aged man lumbered to the door.

"Oh, sorry. Hello. You must be Rose. I'm Clive, obviously."

Mickey interrupted, glowering threateningly at Clive. "Hello. I'm Mickey, and I'm gonna be waiting in the car, just in case you decide you're going to try and kill Rose."

"Ah yes, good point. No murders." Clive waved Mickey off as the younger man headed to his car.

"Who is it?" a woman asked from further inside the house.

"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor. She's been reading the website. Please, come through. I'm in the shed."

"'She'? She's read a website about the Doctor? She's a she?"

* * *

"... The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has one constant companion: death," Clive continued, gesturing towards the photographs on the table.

"Wait, that's not fair," Rose scowled at him. "Why are you saying that trouble follows him? It's much more likely that he's following trouble, to try to fix it! He saved the Daniels family, you said. And there's no evidence Krakatoa had anything to do with him, just because the picture was there. How could he have made volcanoes blow up?"

"Well. In any case, if the Doctor's back, if you've seen him, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger."

"You're labelling him as a harbinger of death and destruction. Okay, I get that, I guess. But _who_ is he, actually? Or rather, who do you think he is?"

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world."

* * *

As this conversation was taking place, Mickey was experiencing something rather supernatural out in the street. As he stood next to his car, watching Clive's house like a hawk, the rubbish bin began to roll closer to him. Spotting movement from the corner of his eye, he turned around and stared at the wheelie bin making its way towards him.

His first instinct was to go see if someone or something was stuck in there, but Rose's warning stilled his feet. It was true - she _hadn't_ led him wrong before. Not ever.

When the bin reached within a meter of him, Mickey decided he would camp out in the car. He pulled out his keys and turned to get into the vehicle -

The gray rubbish bin gave a ferocious burp as it gobbled Mickey Smith up whole.

* * *

"Mickey, an alien. Clive thinks the guy's an alien from another world. Imagine, a whole different planet with a culture we've never seen before!" Rose was nearly vibrating with energy as she slid into the passenger seat. Her excitement prevented her from noticing Mickey's unnaturally shiny skin, or his fixed smile. "I need something greasy to calm myself down. I think I fancy a pizza."

"Pizza! P-p-p-pizza!"

Rose continued to chatter happily as 'Mickey' weaved unsteadily down the road.

* * *

"But you know, I _am_ going to need to get another job soon. Maybe I should try the hospital? Suki says they need a new receptionist. What do you think?"

"So where did you meet this... Doctor?"

"And you told me you weren't curious," Rose laughed, still oblivious to Mickey's jerky movements.

"Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? Was he something to do with that?"

"Nooo..."

"Come on."

"Well, a little."

"What was he doing there?"

"I don't want to get you hurt, so don't ask me anymore. He told me, 'don't tell anyone unless you want to get them killed', and I can't put you of all people into that kind of danger."

"But you can trust me, sweetheart. Babe, sugar, babe, sugar. You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really want to do, sweetheart, babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart," Mickey's voice fluctuated strangely as he listed pet names.

Rose was suddenly made aware of how _plastic_ her best mate looked at that moment.

"Your champagne?" she heard a waiter ask.

"Sorry, it's not ours. What have you done with Mick-?!" she felt an insistent nudge at her shoulder.

"Madam, your champagne?" Rose looked up to see the Doctor grinning at her with champagne in hand. She bit her tongue.

"We didn't order any champagne," Plastic Mickey said, still trying to interrogate Rose. "I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?"

"Look, doesn't anyone want this champagne?"

Rose smirked as she subtly slid her chair out. She tensed her muscles, preparing to run at a moment's notice.

"Look, we didn't order it," Plastic Mickey snapped. He finally looked up. "Ah. Gotcha."

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!"

The Doctor shook the bottle in his hands vigorously and aimed it at Plastic Mickey before releasing the metal holding the cork. It flew into the Auton's forehead.

After a few moments, the plastic man spit it out and stood. His hand turned into a chopper and began to smash the table, attempting to deal the Doctor a killing blow.

The blonde sprang up and ran to the fire alarm as the Doctor tore the Auton's head off.

"Don't think that's gonna stop me," she heard. Rose smashed the glass and pulled the alarm.

"Everyone, get out _right now_! No pictures, stop running around like brainless chickens! Get out! Get out! Get out!"

That taken care of, Rose ran through the kitchens with the Doctor hot on her trail as the headless plastic clumsily destroyed the restaurant. The two spilled out into the alley that held the TARDIS and slammed the back door shut.

"You went into that thing earlier and disappeared," Rose said, running up to the blue police box and circling it. She knocked on a wall. Wood. "Is it real wood? Can it turn invisible? Is it a spaceship?"

"All of the above. Enough questions, just get in here," the Doctor grabbed her hand and yanked her into the box, closing the door just as Plastic Mickey's body decimated the door to the alley.

"But the door's just wood!" Rose protested, peering out through the window.

"The assembled hoards of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shhh."

Rose turned -

- and stared, awestruck, at the gigantic space that met her eyes.

"You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right. Where do you want to start?"

"I went around the entire box. You don't just have a spaceship that can camouflage well," Rose took a deep, calming breath. "Outside these doors... it doesn't just _look_ smaller, it literally _is_ smaller! Is this a different dimension?"

"You could have just said 'it's bigger on the inside'. That usually works for most people."

"It's alien."

"Yeah."

"Are you really an alien?"

"Yes. Is that alright?"

"It's brilliant."

The Doctor grinned. "It's called the Tardis, this thing. T-A-R-D-I-S. That's 'Time And Relative Dimension In Space'."

Rose began to grin back when she suddenly had a realization. _Mickey!_

The Doctor's face fell when tears began to well in the blonde's eyes.

Dammit. First human since _that_... and he'd reduced her to tears already. She was a clever one too.

He cleared his throat and instead said, "Er, don't cry. That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us."

"Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"

"Oh. I didn't think of that," he muttered.

"He's my closest mate - sometimes my only mate - and you didn't even think about what's happened to him? And - oh no, the head's melting! The signal!"

"Melting?"

The Doctor whirled around. The plastic head was melting on the console, where it was attached by cables.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" He sprinted around the console, hitting this and pumping that and flipping all the switches in between.

"Can you still follow it?"

"It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there... Here we go!"

The TARDIS shook a bit and the Doctor ran for the door.

"Did we get there?" Rose asked, following him out. "Didn't feel much like we were flying."

"That's 'cos we weren't. Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand."

"I'm going to be an astronaut. I might as well learn."

He looked at her consideringly. "Maybe..." he hesitated. "Maybe later." He shook his head. "Anyway, I lost the signal, I got so close."

"Will we find Mickey if we find the controller? Will he be alive, do you think?"

"Mickey this, Mickey that. Look, he might be kept alive to maintain the copy" - Rose sighed in relief - "but I can't be constantly worried about a single human kid when I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, all right?"

The young blonde scowled at him. "You really are alien, even though you sound like you're from the north."

He rolled his eyes. "Lots of planets have a north."

"So what do the living plastic creatures want? They're being very War of the Worlds."

"That's exactly it. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"

"How do we stop it?"

The Doctor held up a tube of blue liquid.

"Anti-plastic."

"Anti-plastic."

"Anti-plastic. But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"

"What?"

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"What does it look like?"

"Like a transmitter. Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London..."

Rose stared at the looming landmark over his shoulder with a raised brow.

"... A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible. What?"

The Doctor turned to look at what Rose was staring at on the south bank. Even after looking straight at the aforementioned object, the penny didn't drop.

"What? What is it?" He kept seeing Rose's smirk every time he turned back to her. "What?"

She coughed and nodded at the structure behind him. After a final turn, the Doctor finally caught on to what Rose was looking at. The London Eye, the biggest wheel in the world, stood proudly on the south bank of the Thames.

"Oh. Fantastic!"

The Doctor and Rose ran towards the wheel.

"Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables - "

"The breast implants," Rose laughed.

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath."

Rose looked over the parapet and quickly identified a large manhole entrance at the bottom of some steps. "What about that?"

"Brilliant!"

The pair ran down and the Doctor opened up the hatch to reveal gloomy red lighting. They climbed the ladder into a multileveled chamber.

"The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature."

"What are you going to do now?"

"I've got to give it a chance."

"Then before you go down there, hand me the anti-plastic," Rose told him.

"Why?"

"Well, what if you get searched? They aren't going to believe your 'I come in peace' if you have a weapon specifically tailored to kill them on you!"

The Doctor stared at her. "Yes. Right. Good idea, here."

She rolled her eyes and surreptitiously hid the vial in her bra, making his ears turn red. The Doctor abruptly turned and walked down to a catwalk overlooking the seething vat.

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation," he boomed. Rose spotted Mickey a level below, struggling with a plastic dummy, and ran down as the Doctor did his thing.

"Mickey, you're alright! I was so worried," she said, glad that she'd kept her torch lighter just in case. She carefully burned down the dummy's hands as Mickey kept it in place, and the now-released Mickey wrapped the thing up tight with a nearby chain and kicked it aside.

"Rose what are doing here? That thing down there, the liquid, it's dangerous! You'll get hurt, or worse!"

"You're stinking," she replied, used to his overprotectiveness. "Doctor, they kept him alive, isn't that great?"

"Yeah, great, can we please keep the domestics outside?" The Doctor continued walking downwards until he stood at the edge of the roiling liquid. "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilisation by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"

"Pff-" Rose stifled her laugh. _What a horrible pun_.

A face formed in the vat of plastic and made a series of strange noises.

"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights. I am talking!" the Doctor roared. The Nestene Consciousness quieted. "This planet is just starting. These stupid - and sometimes clever - little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf. Please, just go."

"Doctor! Behind you!" Rose yelped.

A pair of shop dummies grabbed the Doctor before he could turn to look.

"I'm not your enemy though. I swear, I'm not. I'm here to help." More angry noises from the vat. "What do you mean?"

A door slid back to reveal the Tardis. Rose narrowed her eyes and started to think of a plan.

She pulled a confused but still protesting - honestly, alien invasion and he was still trying to act all 'protective big brother' - Mickey towards the blue box.

"No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" The plastic continued roaring at the Doctor, but Rose couldn't understand anything.

"What's it doing?" the blonde asked as she reached the TARDIS. She inched towards a long metal chain adjacent to her, attached firmly to the ceiling. A quick estimation of its length revealed that it would easily reach the Doctor.

"It's the Tardis! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Just leg it now!"

As the plastic in the vat kept roaring, Rose scoffed. "Not likely."

She tossed Mickey her mobile and her bag. "Call mum, tell her to go home and stay there, no matter what."

"Rose, what are you doing?" Mickey snapped, recognizing the signs of 'Reckless Rose'. He sighed when she told him to "just do it" and acquiesced reluctantly.

"I gave up most of my friends and studied my arse off so I could go see the stars someday." Rose grabbed a nearby axe and swung it at the rope holding the metal chain. "I'm going to see them no matter what, and I _won't_ let a bloody plastic invasion stop me." She firmly gripped the chain in her hands. "And one of the best assets an astronaut can have is physical agility!"

Rose stuck the anti-plastic vial between her teeth and ran off the cat-walk with the chain in her hands. She gave the dummies that held the Doctor a harsh kick as she flew by, and spit out the vial when she swung over the vat. The two dummies fell into the shrieking Nestene Consciousness as it turned blue.

"Rose!" two male voices yelled. The Doctor caught Rose as she swung back and, instead of dropping her on her feet, carried her with him as he ran to the TARDIS. The Nestene Consciousness shrieked and roared and screamed all the while.

"... My feet work perfectly fine," Rose told the Doctor's shoulder.

He grinned at her. "This is faster."

They reached the blue spaceship and the Doctor carried her entire weight with one arm as he turned the key with the other. Rose, ignoring her friend's furious expression, grabbed Mickey's wrist as the Doctor entered the box, and the TARDIS doors closed behind the trio just in time to protect them from the exploding blue plastic.

Mickey glowered at the Doctor. "Hey, drop her."

"Okay, _Rickey_," the Doctor snarked. He placed Rose on the jump seat and began rushing around the console to pilot it to a different location. Whenever _Rickey_ tried to get close to Rose, the TARDIS 'accidentally' tilted in the other direction and tripped him up. (The Doctor smirked each time this happened.)

Finally, the TARDIS materialised on the Embankment by a row of shuttered kiosks, neither of the passengers aware that the pilot had spent several minutes pretending to look busy piloting as he chatted with Rose; he actually had left the TARDIS floating in the time vortex for much longer than necessary.

Mickey stomped out of the box with several new bumps and bruises. Rose giggled at the glare he shot at the Doctor.

"A fat lot of good you were," she told her mate. "Is mum safe though?"

"Yeah she's fine. Nothing much happened out there, you took care of the monsters quick 'nuff. But what were you _thinking_?"

"I was _thinking_ that I was going to save the world from being invaded by plastic."

"Rose, you could have died!"

"No I wouldn't have. I haven't done gymnastics for years just to die because I couldn't hold onto a chain!"

The Doctor quickly interrupted the argument before it could escalate. _Ugh, domestics._ "Yeah, great job by the way. Nestene Consciousness? Easy." He snapped his fingers.

"Don't encourage her!"

Rose sighed to expel her anger, and then gave the Doctor a tongue-touched grin. "You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."

"Yes, I would. Thank you," the alien replied quietly. He coughed, and then shook himself. "Right then, I'll be off. Unless, er, I don't know, you could come with me. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge. Didn't you say you were going to see the stars?"

"Don't! Who knows what could happen to you? Rose, you can't keep being so reckless, putting yourself into danger like this."

"Right, he's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, and sure, you may be able to walk on Mars one day... or you could come with me, go anyplace, any planet, anywhere in the universe."

"Is it always this dangerous?"

"Yes. Maybe. Do you want it to be?"

Rose's face clearly reflected her inner turmoil.

She wanted to go. She wanted to, _needed_ to go. This was her dream come true, but without having to wait years and years, and without being limited to just this solar system.

But, Mickey was right. He and Jackie would have aneurysms if she left right now, they would die with worry. She couldn't do that to the two people who'd supported her beyond anything. Not to mention, someone had to be there for her poor, lonely mum. She couldn't be so selfish.

"I- I- I can't. I can't just leave my mum and Mickey to worry about me like that, that would be awful of me. And my mum, she needs me to take care of her."

As soon as the words escaped from her lips, she wanted to take them all back. _What was she __**doing**__?_ This was the chance of several lifetimes, this was what she'd lived her life for!

"Okay." The Doctor's shoulders hunched forwards. He shoved them back and turned around to walk off stiffly. "See you around."

_No_, she wanted to scream at his back, _no I didn't mean it, no please, take me with you!_

She wanted to throw Mickey's arm off her shoulder she wanted to run to that beautiful blue box she wanted to grab the Doctor's hand and never let go -

The TARDIS dematerialised.

Rose stood there for a few beats, not moving, not even breathing.

Mickey gave Rose a one-armed squeeze. "Rose, take in a deep breath. Come on sweetheart, you can do it."

No response.

Suddenly, the two heard a wheezing noise that seemed to resonate with the empty vacuum of space, echoing out to the deepest recesses of reality.

Rose looked up to see that the Tardis had rematerialised. The Doctor's head popped out.

"By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?"

The blonde, who'd looked as if she had died inside, instantly came back to life.

"Mickey," she said, cupping her closest mate's cheeks in her palms. "Thanks for so much."

The young man sighed. "I'll tell Jackie. She'll never believe me though, so tell her yourself when you have the chance."

"Yes. Thank you. I love you big bro." She gave Mickey a tight embrace and kissed his forehead. She took her bag from him.

Rose ran to the TARDIS and grabbed the Doctor's outstretched hand, never looking back.

* * *

**AN**

_**Rambling**_**...**_** Please feel free to ignore...**_

Reckless Rose is reckless.

I love how cute unjaded Rose is.

Rosie is _so_ jeopardy friendly, common sense or no, and naïvity isn't very conductive to survival, haha. Jimmy's assholeness hasn't taught her to be wary of the world, so now she has to learn for herself (ooh, poor girl... The heartbreak!) And Mickey's driving himself _wild_ with worry.

Did you notice how the door handle got bent up last chapter? I first hinted at her physical adroitness then (plus when the dummy's arm came off), since I read somewhere that astronauts needed to be very physically fit: Rosie wouldn't neglect any of the requirements to fulfil her dream.

Omg the Doctor's so strong! Carrying Rose one-armed!

The ending made me happy, even though I wrote it and even though I knew it would happen all along.

_**... End rambling**_**.**

**There's an awww scene with Rose and the Doctor next chapter, so look forward to that. :)**

**Please review, my darlings! I love your guys' reviews, I find them supertastic - ooh, new word - and I find that lots of reviews makes me all giddy and happy and want to update faster. Wink wink, nudge nudge.**


	3. Interlude I: Show Me The Scale

**Because Rose isn't just going to sign on without knowing anything about her new life...**

* * *

The Doctor and Rose Tyler stood in the control room of the TARDIS, lit by the green glow of the time rotor.

"You didn't have that cut earlier. How long has it been for you?"

"Three days." _Three months._

"Oh. What did you during those three days?"

"Had an adventure,"

_- went out and tried to kill myself six times_ -

"Visited a different galaxy,"

_- wouldn't let myself leave Earth_ -

"Remembered you,"

_- couldn't forget you_ -

"And thought, Rose Tyler would have made this better, I should ask her again!"

_I never ask twice, but your smile makes everything hurt less._

He grinned. "So, you choose. Whenever and wherever in all of time and space: where would you like to go? What's it going to be?"

Rose hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out why his words had rung so false.

When she finally spoke, Rose said, "Show me the scope of everything. I want to see the nadir of the universe and then the zenith. I want to see the worst of it and the best of it. Show me what it needs to be saved from, and show me what makes it worth saving."

There was a short, surprised pause.

"... Rose Tyler," the Doctor said softly. He tasted the words with his lips, savouring the way they rolled off his tongue and flavoured the very air he breathed. "If that is what you really want, if you think you can handle it, I will do all that for you and more."

"I don't know if I _can_ handle it," she confessed, "but I have to try, don't I? If I'm going to travel the stars with you, I have to at least do my best, even though don't think it will be good enough."

"Sometimes, it's the only thing you can do," the Doctor muttered. He straightened and clapped twice. "Well then. You want the worst? Try the on 75th century Pollux slave trade for size."

"You think you're _so_ impressive," she teased, tongue peeking out through her grin.

"I am so impressive!" he told her, feigning affront.

"You wish."

_I do wish, but I know you won't find me impressive after our next destination._

* * *

After the fourth trip, Rose didn't know how she was possibly able to produce any more water. She touched her cheeks, still wet with tears at the sight of the children of Tgevador II, remembering eyeless sockets oozing with squirming parasites, coursing rivers of thick gray blood, cruel black stitches traversing purple skin mottled with green - rot and infection, the Doctor had said...

* * *

The Doctor saw Rose Tyler's blank stare and wondered if he had broken this wonderful girl with his carelessness. He should have known she wasn't ready, should have known it was too much at once, should have known that of course he would break the best companion he'd ever stumbled upon...

Should have known...

Should have known...

He should have known that she'd push back her shoulders, stare him straight in the eye, and ask him for more.

One last one, and then he would show her all the things he found fantastic about the universe.

But he'd hold her hand through the tears and fix her a nice cup of tea first, before he showed her the end of the Earth.

* * *

**Thanks so much to shadowntr for telling me about my erroneous Latin! (I kept going back and forth between 'Domina' and 'Cometissa', but I did a little research of my own, and the former suited my meaning better. Also, 'Cometissa' doesn't quite roll in your mouth like 'Domina' does. ;)**

**Please review, pretty please! :)**

**As an incentive, I'll give you a question that I want you to answer, each chapter. Keep in mind, your answers will sometimes affect the story!**

**Q: Cassandra is a bitch but I kind of like her. Agree or disagree?**

**Author's answer: Actually, I personally am gonna have to agree with this one. She was a woman who knew what she wanted and did what she needed to get it: a Slytherin through and through. (Little known fact: I'm a Slytherin too, though most people who know me wouldn't expect that.) And actually, she has all the signs of someone who secretly has very low self-confidence, poor girl.**


	4. End of the World - Part I

**So far, it's not going to deviate too much from canon since I'm still not sure where I'll take this. I'm trying to separate from the show little by little.**

* * *

The control room of the TARDIS shook violently as She landed on the pair's next destination.

"So, what's out there this time?" Rose asked, a bit anxious at what horrible sights she would see next.

"Ah, nothing much. Just the end of the Earth. A bit tame really, compared to the rest."

"Tame? But... what about all the people? What's happened to them?"

"The planet's empty. They're all gone. There's no one left on the planet."

They exited the TARDIS and made their way down a flight of stairs. A large shutter on the wall descended, revealing the Earth in its full blue and white beauty.

"This is the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. It's five billion years from your original present, and this is the day..."

The Doctor shook down his sleeve and looked at his wrist watch.

(Rose had to marvel at the irony of this. He'd told her he was a Time Lord. A Lord of Time who had a watch? She knew full well that he could count down to the milliseconds without needing one, which meant he only had it for the theatrics.)

"Hold on," he said. The sun flared and began to turn a vibrant red. "This is the day the Sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."

As Rose and the Doctor walked down the corridor, she could hear a pleasant computer interface announcing, "_Shuttles five and six now docking. Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth Death is scheduled for fifteen thirty nine, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite._"

"So what's so horrible about this spaceship?" Rose asked. "It's nothing like the other places you've taken me so far. It's a bit posh, actually."

"The great and the good are gathering on this observation deck to watch the planet burn."

The Doctor paused to use his sonic screwdriver on a wall panel.

"What for?"

"Fun."

They made their way down to a large area with a few display cases with a large window and a wide view of space.

All the better to see the Earth burn with, Rose mused.

"Mind you, when I said the great and the good, what I mean is, the rich," the Doctor added.

"So really, why are we here?"

"This is about seeing what horrid things people are willing to do with and for money. I have it on good authority that someone's hatched a nefarious plot to ruin the event."

"We're in the year five billion, and there's still greed. Why am I not surprised?"

Rose paused in front of the glass and observed the same huge star that had sustained her for her entire life loom threateningly over her home planet. Now that she wasn't sobbing at the sight of dying children or tortured slaves, the scientist within her was absolutely bouncing off the wall with questions.

"The sun should have destroyed the Earth by now. Five million years is more than enough time for the Earth to get roasted. There's obviously no Mercury or Venus or Mars, and even if one was hidden behind the Sun, you'd see the other two. So why is the Earth still there?"

"Your planet's now the property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there? Gravity satellites holding back the sun."

"'National Trust'? Of what nation? And what are the gravity satellites doing against the heat?"

The Doctor grinned down at her. Trust her to ask the difficult questions. "Ask our hosts if you want to know that bad."

"Well, why are the continents in the same place as in 2005? They should have shifted by now, plate tectonics and all that."

"The Trust shifted all of them back. That's a classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over."

'Classic' according to _whom_, she wondered. Instead she asked, "What time is it, relative to our current time period and location?"

"15 hours, 4 minutes and 29 point 54 seconds," he responded promptly.

Rose did some quick mental arithmetic. That meant around thiry-four minutes until the Earth was destroyed. She'd have to keep a timer, just in case. As Rose dug around her bag for her phone, a blue-skinned male with golden slit eyes strided towards them.

After she finished setting her timer for 3 - 3 minutes, Rose tuned back into the conversation the Doctor was having with the other alien.

"... I'm a guest. Look, I've got an invitation. Look." The Doctor flashed the alien something white encased in black leather. "There, you see? It's fine, you see? The Doctor plus one. I'm the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler. She's my plus one. Is that all right?"

He flipped closed* the leather ID wallet, but Rose grabbed his hand before he could stuff it into a pocket.

The blue alien spoke. "Well, obviously. Apologies, et cetera. You're a bit early, I'm afraid, but we'll start soon enough."

"How rude," she scolded the blue steward. "Someone with a job in the service industry shouldn't act so offhandedly to a patron or client, no matter how busy you are. I know from experience that it's difficult not to, but your behaviour is unprofessional."

"Err- yes, of course. How horrid of me," he replied, ears turning purple. "I... apologize for my mishap. It will not happen again."

"Thank you," Rose said, nodding in acknowledgement. He nodded back and trotted off to a group of little blue people, who were rushing to finish preparations.

The current scene in front of the Doctor was interrupted with an vision of Rose all suited up in military fatigues, barking out orders to her combat team. He saw illusion-Rose's mouth form the words 'formation Big Bad Wolf, case 4' while staring him straight in the eye.

He blinked.

No. She was still there, with him, still holding his hand. Was that a backlash from one potential timeline then, remnants of a future he'd erased by taking her away from Earth?

_... Wait._

He glanced at their interlaced fingers and then gave Rose Tyler a bemused look.

She blushed and snatched her hand back. "Sorry, just wanted to look at what was in that wallet."

The Doctor didn't question it, knowing he was lucky she was willing to touch him at all, after what he'd forced her to see. He handed the black wallet to her.

"The paper's slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time."

"What is that, then?"

"What's what?"

"Look, it keeps going from an authentic ID saying 'Lady Rose Tyler, Malum Lupa Corporation LTD' to a white page saying 'Hey, this is pretty cool', and then back. Oh, now the white page is saying, 'What is happening?'"

"What?" The Doctor grabbed the psychic paper, but it went back to its original blank state. Since it was obvious that the man never _stopped_ thinking, Rose reckoned it meant that his mind was shielded, unlike hers.

_How does one go about acquiring a mental shield?_ she wondered offhandedly.

"Are you sure you aren't thinking of yourself as 'Lady Rose Tyler', then?"

"Nope."

"Hmm..."

The Doctor's train of thought was broken when the steward returned. "Your invitation, please."

The Doctor showed him the psychic paper.

"We have in attendance Lady Rose Tyler of the Bad Wolf Conglomerate and the Doctor," the blue man announced to the room. The Doctor's eyebrows tilted at Rose's new title. "And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa."

A bark-skinned woman entered the room from a large door, accompanied by two larger male escorts.

"There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you could keep the room circulating, thank you." Rose panicked a little, turning to the Doctor as the steward droned, "Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon..."

"Doctor, do you have anything?" she hissed.

"Nope." He grinned at her. Sighing, the ex-PA rummaged in her bag for the pack of individually wrapped hardboiled candies she'd stolen from the Henrik's staffroom. _Thank god for my sweet tooth._

"... Mister and Mrs Pakoo. The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light..."

The trees walked up to the Doctor with the female leading the way.

"The Gift of Peace. I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather." She handed the Doctor a rooted twig in a small pot.

"Thank you. In return, Lady Rose shall bequeath onto you these ancient Earth delicacies, created from an original old Earth recipe." Rose handed each of the trees a candy. One of the male escorts - Lute, she guessed - unwrapped one and stuck it in his mouth, apparently checking to see if it was safe.

"How delicious."

Rose winked at him. "There's more where that came from."

"I can see there is," the treeman laughed.

The Doctor glared at him. "Move along now."

"... From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe."

Rose watched as a large glass case barely made it through the doorway. It contained a giant humanoid head with straggly hair and squinting eyes that immediately met hers.

Her knees buckled when a great wave of foreign emotions suddenly crashed into her mind - longing and agony and joy intertwining into a confusing mess... she couldn't _breathe_ -

"The Moxx of Balhoon!" The Doctor greeted, as a large blue man rolled up. Rose snapped out of her trance. The wave of emotions ebbed back until it was like they were never there, and her memory of the event disappeared entirely.

Rose shook her head in confusion at her strangely weak muscles.

"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily salivas."

Rose's eyes widened, and she whipped out a pack of napkins, in which she caught the majority of the Moxx's spit midair. She then gave him a candy.

"Thank you very much," the Doctor said, initially looking impressed at her feat, and then making a face at the little droplets of saliva on his coat. Rose laughed and tried to sneakily slip the pack of napkins into his pocket, to no avail.

The black-robed group then glided up. "Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I give you an ancient Earth delicacy."

One large metal hand accepted the candy, and another held out a ball. "A gift of peace in all good faith," an Adherent growled. The group soon left.

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human. The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

A rectangular frame was wheeled in by two men hidden in top-to-toe hospital whites. The frame contained feminine eyes and lips centered in a piece of thin skin, and along the bottom was a jar containing a floating brain.

"Oh, now, don't stare," a woman's voice said. Rose could see the lips moving, but where were the vocal cords? "I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference. Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand..."

Rose circled behind Lady Cassandra to try to see how thin the 'woman' really was. Were there any organs hidden behind there? How did she eat? Or breathe? Did she even need air?

"... Truly, I am the last Human. My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert..."

_How much has the Earth changed, for the Artic to have a desert?_

Rose nearly collided with the 50's juke box being wheeled in by little blue attendants.

"According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers. Play on!"

One of the little attendants pressed a button, selecting '45', and strains of Tainted Love by Soft Cell began to ring out. Rose surreptitiously pressed a '62', just to see what it was, and was pleased to hear Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It was real classical music, it suited the situation more, and it reminded her of her phone's ringtone.

_Mum! I haven't talked to her yet, I don't even know what to say!_

Rose glanced at the at the Doctor, and, noticing that he was busily conversing with the Face of Boe, went out into the corridor by herself to try to collect her thoughts.

The Doctor saw someone very pink exit the room and went to follow her (_Was she having doubts? Did she want to leave?_), but was intercepted by Jabe, who was brandishing a device at him, and Coffa, who stood sentinel by her back. There was a bright flash.

"Thank you," Coffa told the Doctor. The man glared at the tree and continued on his way.

Jabe leaned over her device, concerned by the way it kept emitting birdlike twitters rather than outright supplying an answer. She scolded the device into giving her a response and the two trees gasped at the outcome of the test.

No one noticed an Adherent giving the steward a 'gift of peace', or a metal ball unfurling its legs and scuttling off.

* * *

What would she tell her mum? Should she tell her at all?

Rose, deep in thought, was directing a million yard stare at the growing Sun through a window as she walked. She snapped back to reality only when she bumped into a tall blue worker in overalls and a cap. The worker dropped some of her tools.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Rose bent down to help pick up all the items.

"You have to give us permission to talk," the female replied pleasantly.

"Well that's a rubbish rule! Err, you have permission."

"Thank you. And yes, I'm fine."

"Am I allowed in here? Should I leave?"

"Guests are allowed anywhere. And you're not in the way at all, don't worry." The blue woman began working on a panel on the wall.

"Okay then. What your name?"

"Raffalo."

"Hello, Raffalo. My name's Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Rose. I won't be long, I've just got to carry out some maintenance. There's a tiny little glitch in the Face of Boe's suite. There must be something blocking the system. He's not getting any hot water."

* * *

After the friendly Miss Rose left, Raffolo heard the tapping of metal on metal.

"What's that? Is something in there? "

A silver spider-like critter emerged from the conduit and came towards her.

"Oh! Who are you, then?"

It scuttled away.

"Hold on! If you're an upgrade I just need to register you, that's all. Oh, come back."

She entered the circuit and saw the little machine standing a little ways away.

"Ah, there you are. Now, I just need to register your ident." Another creature scuttled up next to the first. "Oh, there's two of you. Got yourself a little mate."

One by one, more and more of the machines crawled into the circuit, and Raffalo began to feel the stirrings of dread in her gut. "I think I'd better report this to Control. How many of you are there? What are you? Oh, no, no, no!"

She yelled loudly as she was dragged off, but not a single person heard her scream.

* * *

As she sat alone in the empty room, Rose found herself contemplating her newly chosen life of aliens and traveling and the Doctor.

"_Would the owner of the blue box in private gallery fifteen please report to the Steward's office immediately. Guests are reminded that use of teleportation devices is strictly forbidden under Peace Treaty five point four slash cup slash sixteen. Thank you._"

Yes, and even that pretty blue box. Joining the Doctor had been incredibly impulsive of her, but even though she had decided to prepare herself by seeing all of the horrid parts of the universe first, she couldn't bring herself to regret it yet. Just being next to the Doctor made her feel like she could do more, _be_ more.

Before him, no one else but Jackie and Mickey had any idea why she'd really wanted to be an astronaut; the rest thought she was doing it to properly support her mother, or prove a point as a female, or help Britain along in the space race, or something else impressive like that.

It was childish, she knew, wanting to 'touch the stars'... but that had been the driving force behind her every action ever since she'd gotten that telescope set and star chart when she was 12.

As she fiddled absentmindedly with the metal ball, she heard the computer announcing, "_Earth Death in twenty five minutes._"

Attention returned to the present, Rose began to actively wonder about the ball in her hands. What was its purpose? What did it do? Was there anything in it?

She shook it, but she couldn't hear anything inside. Maybe if she cracked it open...? There were plenty more of these, so it couldn't be irreplaceable.

Rose lifted the metal ball over her head and threw it to the ground as hard as she could. It dented and cracked a little, but stubbornly remained closed. She had to throw it three more times before it finally sparked violently and cracked open, revealing four long, twitching legs with electrical currents running along them, a cracked and dented metal body, and a broken red eye piece.

Actually, hadn't the Doctor said something about an evil ploy?

Rose sat down and wondered how she could contact him and get him to come to her. She didn't have the tools to inspect the device without shocking herself badly, and she couldn't leave the little bugger in case he disappeared (she watched telly enough to know that would almost definitely be a bad idea). Sighing, she slumped on the step and picked up the little potted sprig.

"Hello. My name's Rose. That's a sort of plant. We might be related. Are you sentient, or..." she trailed off when she realised she really was just talking to a twig. She gently put the thing down.

Just then, she heard the Doctor's voice. "Rose? Are you in there?"

The man walked into the room but froze at the sight of the smashed metal spider on the ground. "Whoa, remind me not get on your bad side," he joked.

"I threw one of the metal balls until it broke, and this is what came out."

"I... see. Well, we can deal with him later. I just wanted to ask, how are you holding up?"

"Well for one, everyone seems to be speaking English. 21st century English, too, not what would happen to a language after 5 billion years, if they still use English now."

"Oh they do call it English, but you wouldn't even recognize it," he told her. "It sounds like this 'cos of the TARDIS translation circuit. I'm surprised you haven't noticed it before now, actually."

"Because it wasn't happening on our earlier trips. Before, aliens just sounded alien. On Tg-Tgev-Tgevador II, I didn't understand anything anyone was saying."

What?

The TARDIS translation circuits always kicked in near immediately for his companions. She never picked and chose what to translate for them, though the children on Tgevador II admittedly weren't exactly being pleasant in what they were screaming.

Was the TARDIS purposely going out of her way to protect this girl?

"Huh. Okay," he said instead.

"I do wish you would have asked first though, before you changed how my mind worked like that."

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't think of it like that."

"It's okay. But listen, Doctor... can't you tell me anything about yourself?"

"Like what?" he replied defensively.

"I dunno, favourite color, favourite planet, pet peeves, anything really."

"Brown. Earth. Personal questions."

"Oh." Rose's face fell.

The Doctor's hearts twinged, and he scolded them for being so weak to attack. He abruptly changed the subject. "Have you talked to your mum yet?" _Ugh, domestics. Wrong choice._

Rose, however, immediately perked up. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that! Is there any way I can contact her?"

"Sure. Hand me your phone." She did. "With a little bit of jiggery pokery, we can get this to reach anywhere in time and space."

"Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?" Rose asked, her tongue peeking out of her grin.

The Doctor stared at it for a second. "Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery. What about you?"

"_Earth Death in twenty minutes. Earth Death in twenty minutes._"

"Nah, I had to make do with hullabaloo. Ooh, that rhymed."

"A regular Seuss, you are. There you go. I'll be working on jimbo over there while you make the call."

"Thank you."

Rose immediately phoned her mother.

"_Hello?_"

"Mum! Oh, I've missed that voice."

"_What do you mean? We chatted just this morning._"

"It just... It feels like I haven't seen you in a few days, that's all."

"_What's wrong sweetheart?_"

"Nothing. Are you alright, though?"

"_Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?_"

"No reason. What day is it?"

"_Wednesday. Did you think it was Tuesday again? Oh, I remember that, that was hilarious, it was._"

"Oh, I didn't even think _this_ could happen... Mum, listen. Mickey's going to tell you something on Friday, and it's going to sound absolutely mad - like, spaceships, aliens and time machines kind of mad. Don't mention it to him until he talks about it first, okay? And everything he says, you have to believe him. It's the complete and utter truth. Think about it: I know about Henrik's right now, but I won't when it happens."

"_Sweetheart, what are you saying? You sound full out nutters._"

"Mum, just remember what I'm saying right now when Mickey talks to you on Friday. I've never lied to you before, so just trust me, and believe Mickey. And don't mention this conversation to me when you see me later. I love you mum."

"_Rose-!_" Rose hung up and sat still for a moment before jumping up and heading over to the Doctor.

"Have you figured out what that is yet?" she asked his crouching form. The Doctor put down his sonic screwdriver.

"Someone's been bringing their pets onboard. This is a simplistic version of an android, following preprogrammed orders. Judging from the shape and composition, I'd say... this little guy was meant to infiltrate and sabotage. I think we just found our nefarious plot. So much for a gift of peace."

"No good faith at all," Rose agreed. The observation deck shook fiercely. "And I think that's our cue."

* * *

"_Honoured guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thank you__,_" the pair heard as they entered the observation gallery. The Adherents were nowhere to be seen.

"Indubitably, this is the Bad Wolf scenario. I find the inherent laxity of the on-going multiverse..." Moxx was saying something to the Face of Boe - whose eyes found hers again -, but Rose ignored them both for the moment.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." Jabe and Lute strode up. "What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines. They've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?"

Rose grinned when she noticed that he'd completely ignored Lute, and patted the treeman's arm in consolation. The Doctor glared at the point of contact.

"It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me," Jabe responded, aware of the rising tension.

"Where's the engine room?" The Doctor was still glaring at Lute's arm, as if trying to burn it off with his eyes.

"I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you and your wife," Jabe offered.

The Doctor's head snapped up. "She's not my wife," he responded awkwardly.

"Partner?"

" 'In Crime', maybe."

"Mistress?"

"What?"

"Love interest?"

"Err..."

"Okay, okay, that's enough now. Let's just agree with 'friends' and leave it there, shall we? You two, go off and take a look at the mechanics of this ship while I have a family reunion with Michael Jackson over there. And you might want to stay here," Rose said, patting Lute's arm again and glancing at the Doctor. He obviously didn't like the guy, though she didn't understand why. "You know, for health reasons."

Understanding what she was hinting at, Lute agreed.

As the Doctor and Jabe left, Rose grinned and yelled, "And I want you home by midnight!"

"_Earth Death in fifteen minutes. Earth Death in fifteen minutes__._"

* * *

**AN**

***closed? close? closed? I can never tell, but I think it's closed.**

**'I have it on good authority' means he asked the TARDIS to do it for him and he's assuming she listened (well, in this case, she did).**

**He thinks it was a timeline that was **_**erased**_** because of him. Pff, the physician man amuses me.**

**That scene with Boe took place in less than a second, in case you were wondering. What **_**was**_** that, though? Hmmm...**

**And of course the Doctor's having his guilt complex over there in the corner. 'Forced her'? Pff, she asked to see all that. **_**Literally**_**. He has the worst sense of self-worth ever. Or is that just how I wrote him?**

**Q: Which type of male character do you feel yourself most attracted to/graviating towards whenever you watch or read something fictional? (Ex: crazy, moody, sassy, cheerful, loyal, cute...)**

**For me, I tend to **_**love**_** the villains in fiction, especially if they're crazy and bad-tempered, or manipulative. (The Joker, Scarecrow, Madara, Scabior, Barty Crouch Jr., Gintama's Takasugi, Moriarty, Sebastian Verlac, etc.) Conversely, in real life I'm attracted to 'Good Guys' because 'Bad Boys' creep me out and scare me half to death. SAY NO TO DRUGS.**

**Huh.**

* * *

**Reviews**

_**A guest **_**: Actually, what I wrote for those parts that you mentioned was exactly what my thoughts were when I first saw those scenes. It sounds long and complicated when spoken aloud/ written out, but in thought-form, it's pretty much a split second thing (at least, I experience it that way. I'm fairly sure it isn't much different for other people). I always thought of that as just using logic though, not Sherlock Holmes deduction; I'm afraid I'm no match for such genius. Also, I'm not sure if you can tell yet, but Rose **_**is**_** a sci-fi nutter. Aliens excite her to the max, and she wants to be an astronaut. XD**


	5. End of the World - Part II

**Actually, I was torn between having Rose go with the Doctor and Rose talking to Cassandra... But since pink. lili. flower said she wanted to see Rose interacting with Cassandra, and since most of you guys seemed to like the woman, Cassandra it is. Yes, I do actually take into account what you guys have to say, haha. (I was serious when I asked all of you to answer my questions ._.)**

**There's a lot of leaving people standing by their lonesome going on in this chapter. Oops.**

**After this, there will be two short chapters.**

* * *

"Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy, down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice. I'd have such fun."

_Do you mean girl? Or are you actually...? _Rose pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the big picture.

"What happened to everyone else? The human race, where did it go?"

"They say mankind has touched every star in the sky."

"So, you're not actually the last human?"

"I am the last _pure_ human. The others mingled. Oh, they call themselves New Humans and Proto-Humans and Digi-Humans, even Humanish, but you know what I call them? Mongrels."

"How many operations have you had?"

"Seven hundred and eight. Next week, it's seven hundred and nine. I'm having my blood bleached."

"I see. Do you need them?"

"What?"

"If you didn't have these operations, would you die?"

"No, not quite. Is it a crime to look beautiful?"

"But what makes you think need to look more beautiful? What makes you think that would make you look beautiful at all?"

"Well, what do you know?"

"I was born on that planet, and so was my mum and dad. I've lived my whole life on that planet so I know what real humans look like. Your eyes are the last truly human part of you, and I truly believe that you have some of the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. But you'll inevitably decide to get rid of those too, just like you did the rest of your real self, and that makes me want to cry, a little. I wish I could have seen the real you." Her piece said, Rose turned away to go find the Doctor with a final, "Nice talking."

Cassandra stared after her, her face an indescribable mask.

* * *

"Lady Rose, please wait," the blonde heard as she entered the corridor. Rose turned to see Lute rushing towards her.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Are you looking for the Doctor? I can show you the way."

"Oh, if you would, that'd be fantastic. Thank you."

They walked down the hall with Lute leading the way.

"So you are a human?"

"Yes."

"And the man you are with. Do you know who he is? _What_ he is?"

"The Doctor is just... the Doctor. I know that his species is 'Time Lord', though I don't know what that means. As for all the rest, I'm willing to take what he's willing to give. He's offered me the stars and I'm not going to throw that back in his face."

"_Earth Death in ten minutes. Earth Death in ten minutes__._"

The tree gave her a thoughtful look. "And if I offered to tell you about his original planet?"

"I... I can't say that's not tempting," she confessed. "It's really, _really_ tempting, actually. But - no. No, thank you. I feel like I would be betraying his trust, somehow."

"I see."

"How do you know about him though?"

"My people, the natives of the Forest of Cheem, have long passed down legends of the Time Lords: the Great Observers of the universe. Or at least they were, until the - "

Their conversation was terminated when they saw the Doctor and Jabe rushing towards them.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, seeing the worry on Jabe's face.

The Doctor spoke instead. "Right, well, we're looking for the owner of _these_ little buggers..." he held up a metal spider by its body and swung it back and forth, "... because they've apparently infiltrated all of Platform One."

"I thought we agreed that the Adherents of the Repeated Meme were behind this?"

"No. You see, I've had a while to think about it; a Repeated Meme is just an idea. That's all they are, an idea."

"So, who _is_ behind this?"

"Well that's what we're going to find out." The Doctor shot her a grin.

* * *

"So!" The Doctor rubbed his hands together as he entered the gallery. Everyone's eyes shot towards his confident form. "The steward's dead, and we seem to be in the midst of a life-threatening scheme."

Rose gasped. _The steward died?_

"What do you mean?" Cassandra cried, apparently shocked.

The Londoner nibbled on her bottom lip as the Doctor strode towards the Adherents without another word. She clutched the metal spider in her arms a little closer when one of the droids tried to strike him, and sighed in relief when he easily grabbed the arm.

In front of the incredulous eyes of the other guests, the Doctor swiftly tore off the leading Adherent's arm and pulled a few wires, turning all of the droids off in one strike.

"The Doctor realised that the Adherents of the Repeated Meme are really just remote controlled droids. A cover for the real mastermind," Rose explained to the shocked audience.

"Well, now that we've settled that, let's see who the real troublemaker is." The Doctor nodded at her and she set down the metal spider. It skittered over to the collapsed Adherents and kept scanning them until the Doctor nudged it with his foot. "Go on, Jimbo. Go home."

The robot scampered towards Cassandra, who sniffed in disdain.

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed. At arms!"

Her attendants raised their spray guns.

"_Earth Death in five minutes. Earth Death in five minutes__._"

"What are you going to do, moisturise me?" the Doctor scoffed.

"With acid. Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face..." she glanced at Rose at those last few words, before looking away uncomfortably.

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?"

"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."

"This is what I was trying to show you, Rose. Five billion years and it still comes down to money."

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Doctor," Cassandra protested. Her eyes kept skittering away from Rose's.

"Arrest her, the infidel!" the Moxx of Balhoon interrupted.

"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn."

"Then you'll burn with us," Jabe told her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate." The guests could hear a series of explosions in different areas within Platform One.

"Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me."

"_Safety systems failing__._"

"Bye, bye, darlings," Cassandra fluttered her lashes at them, before finally looking Rose straight in the eye. "Goodbye, Rose Tyler."

Cassandra and her attendants beamed out.

"_Earth Death in four minutes. Earth Death in four minutes__._"

The Doctor turned and ran out.

"Don't worry, the Doctor will sort this all out," Rose quickly assured the other guests, before running after him.

"_Heat levels rising__._"

After chasing flutters of black leather through several halls and corridors, Rose only caught up to the Doctor when she finally reached the engine room. He was pulling at a breaker lever, watching the fans speed up when he let go. Rose followed his line of sight to a switch all the way on the other side of the razor sharp fans.

"_External temperature five thousand degrees__._"

"I'll go."

"What?" The Doctor spun around and stared at her disbelievingly. "No. I'm going to do it. It's too dangerous."

"Which is why I won't let you do it. Besides, who's the gymnast here, you or me?"

"_Heat levels rising__._"

"Look, we're wasting time. Just hold on to that lever." Rose dropped her bag, took off her shoes, and strode up a respectable distance from the first fan. When the fan didn't slow down, she glanced back and glared at the Doctor until he finally pulled the lever.

"_Earth Death in three minutes. Earth Death in three minutes__._"

Rose watched the blades' movements for a brief moment. She took a deep breath and ran at the first fan, diving forward to give herself momentum for an extended roll. She finished neatly on the other side of the fan and sprang up.

"_Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising__._"

With another running start, Rose did a one-handed flip to propel her high enough to grab the top of an ascending blade. She lifted her feet and made a tight arc with her body as she swung herself under the blade and landed with another flip.

"_Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical__._"

The blonde did a cartwheel and a final dive through the last fan blades. She landed on a roll, and sprang up onto her toes to dispel some of the momentum, arms raised in front.

"_Shields malfunction. Shields malfunction. Shields malfunction__._"

Rose ran forward and flipped the reset breaker, calling, "Raise shields!"

She sighed in relief as the temperature returned to a more manageable degree and wiped the sweat from her face.

"Rose," the Doctor called out. "Good job, now - "

"_Earth Death in two minutes. Earth Death in two minutes._"

" - let's get out of here!"

Rose easily rushed through the fans, which were now slowed to a snail's pace. She grinned at him as she shoved her shoes on and grabbed her bag.

The Doctor held out his slightly burnt hand and she took it.

* * *

"Oh, I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them," the Doctor announced as he burst into the gallery. "Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby."

He strode over to a pedestal where the alleged ostrich egg stood and smashed it open to reveal a small device.

"Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed."

"Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces," everyone heard.

Cassandra was beamed back onto Platform One.

"Oh."

"The 'last human'."

"So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club."

"You killed the steward, and god knows how many other workers. You threatened and attempted to kill several high profile people. They nearly died because of you, Cassandra," Rose said, stomping up to the woman.

"It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, then, Rose Tyler, and watch me smile and cry and flutter..."

"And creak?" the Doctor added.

"And what?"

"Creak. You're creaking," he told her with a smirk.

"What? Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturise me, moisturise me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!"

"You raised the temperature."

"Have pity! Moisturise me! Oh, oh, Doctor. I'm sorry! I'll do anything!"

"Help her!"

"Everything has its time and everything dies," the Doctor responded blackly, his eyes dark.

Rose glared at him. She snatched a drink out of a nearby guest's hand and threw it right at Cassandra, who shrieked in indignation and relief.

"I'm not capable of doing nothing while someone dies in front of me, and I don't ever plan on becoming that kind of person either," she told him. "Face of Boe, Moxx of Balhoon and people of Cheem... I can rely on you handle Cassandra's incarceration, right?"

Moxx and the trees each agreed or gave her a nod, but the Face of Boe did not outwardly respond.

"_Indeed, Rose Tyler_," she heard a foreign voice whisper in her mind. She gave a start. "_Cassandra will receive appropriate punishment for the actions she committed today_."

Rose gave the Face of Boe a grateful smile before walking off when her phone beeped.

The Doctor stood alone, giving her departing form a forlorn look.

* * *

"_Earth Death in one minute. Earth Death in one minute__._"

"Lady Rose!" she heard a familiar voice call out. She turned.

"Lute," Rose grinned. "I think we're developing a bit of a pattern."

He blinked at her and chuckled. "Have you been mistaking me as Lute this whole time? I am Coffa, Lady Rose, not Lute."

Rose froze in the middle of the corridor and gave him an absolutely mortified look, burrowing her face in her hands. "Oh my lord," she squeaked. "I am so sorry."

He full out laughed at that. "It is fine. I merely wished to speak to you about the Doctor. Please, do not think too badly of him. After having to suffer through the Time War and then emerging as the sole survivor of his people, there is no doubt that he must have many severe grievances towards people who wish ill against those he cares about."

_Time War?_

"'Those he cares about'?" Not a little jealously she asked, "Who, Jabe?"

"No little one," Coffa smiled at her. "_You_."

He left a confused Rose Tyler standing alone in an empty room.

* * *

"_Earth Death in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1._"

Rose watched in respectful silence as her native planet seemed to boil from the inside out. The young woman made a cross with her fingers as the fractured remains of home floated by.

She turned and left the room.

* * *

"Jabe!" Rose called as she saw the tree-woman on the other end of the corridor. The blonde looked around for Jabe's escorts, but they were nowhere to be seen. "Are you leaving now?"

"Yes, Coffa and Lute have prepared the shuttle and are merely awaiting my arrival so that we may return to my kingdom."

"So you're a princess?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me who flew your shuttle to this place?"

"I do not quite see the relevance of this question."

"Please?"

"It was Lute."

"This has been bothering me ever since you said 'the sound of metal doesn't make any sense to me', but... do you know how to fly a ship? Or a shuttle? Or anything mechanical?"

"Not as such, no. I have people to help me with that."

"Jabe," Rose said, grasping the female's hands. "You need to learn this stuff. What if there's a rebellion and you're the only one left, but you can't leave for safety because you don't know how to fly a ship?"

"Excuse me, but there is no chance of a rebellion among my people!"

"What about if you somehow get stranded somewhere else? What if you get kidnapped?"

"I..."

"Promise me you'll learn this stuff." Rose leaned toward Jabe and looked her straight in the eyes. "For your own safety. Please."

"I... Yes. I will. I promise."

"Thank you." Rose gave her a blinding grin.

"No, Rose Tyler, I thank _you_. I will never forget meeting you and the Doctor. Farewell."

"Goodbye."

* * *

When Rose finally returned to the Doctor, he was staring into the painfully bright red of the Sun's molten core, his black jacket fading into the inky blackness of space. She decided that the man cut too lonely a figure, and strolled up beside him, taking his hand in hers.

He turned to her in surprise. "Rose, I... I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me, I - "

"It's okay, Doctor. Just don't do it again, yeah? You can't just stand there like a cold stranger as someone dies painfully, not if you can't stop it. Promise?"

"I... yes. I promise."

"Good." She gave him a grin, her tongue peeking out the corner. "I fancy some chips, what about you?"

"Rose Tyler. Chips sounds absolutely perfect."

The Doctor grinned.

* * *

**AN**

**Rose seemed a bit mary-sue so far, didn't she? Guys, she does have flaws sprinkled here and there, if you look carefully. Don't worry, she's still the jealous, somewhat selfish girl we know and love, as I've given you a glimpse of in this chapter.**

**I timed the countdown so that Rose would be able to see Earth blowing up into pieces. Rose got through much more easily than the Doctor did not just because she's a gymnast, but also because the pair arrived to the engine room earlier, therefore the room wasn't as hot, therefore the fans weren't **_**as **_**quick and deadly (doesn't mean they weren't fast and deadly, just not as much).**

_Foreshadowing..._

**Oh Rose. You think you've done a good thing, saving Cassandra... but let's see if you still think so when you meet her in the future.**

**And those two promises made this chapter because of Rose. Will they affect later chapters at all, do you think? HMMM.**

_And now that I've left you curious..._

**Two questions today.**

**Q: What do you think about my making a character who is very minor in the show play a much larger part in the story (i.e. should I keep doing things like this)? And do you like Lute-who-is-actually-Coffa? (Depending on your answer, he will play an even larger role in the future.)**

* * *

**Review replies**

**MirrorFlower and DarkWind: Yay, thank you! I love how you always review each chapter, it makes me really happy. (But you never respond to my PMs, which makes me sad :(**

**A guest: Actually, that was a purposeful character flaw. Rose often lets her curiosity get the better of her, only stopping to vaguely excuse her actions to herself using 'logic' (seriously, we've all done self justification, don't deny it ;). Also, in the second chapter, she got incredibly excited when Clive said he thought the Doctor was an alien, so it's not just her wanting to be an astronaut.**


	6. Incident I: Metal Spider

**Cute mini-chapter to tide you over.**

* * *

"Can I bring back one of those metal spiders?

"What for?"

"I think they're really cute. I want one."

"No. What if it kills you, what would you do then?"

"But you can change the programming, can't you? Doctor, I know your skills are more than fantastic enough to do _that_."

"No."

"But... Pleaaase?

"No."

"Pleaaase?"

"No."

_Big, watery, puppy dog eyes._

"Ye - _no_. That won't work on me."

_Quivering bottom lip._

"_Fuck_! Fine, go get one! If you don't come back in a minute I'm leaving without you." That was a lie, and he knew it, but she didn't, so it was fine.

"Yes!"

"Stupid ape... I'm a genius, don't think I'm not... Triple _her _IQ... That definitely won't work next time... What's so great about a metal spider anyway..."

* * *

**Rose is a bit of a hoarder, if you can't tell. She likes to collect things, so this will definitely not be the first incident. ;)**

**Speaking of hoarding...**

**Q: Reformed Dalek as a pet. Yay or nay?**


	7. Interlude II: Things Worth Saving

A baby cried, a man laughed, and the pair of time travellers stood stationary in a teeming crowd of people going about their daily lives, the only elements of stillness in a constantly flowing river.

"You think it'll last forever, people and cars and concrete, but it won't. You saw it. One day it'll all be gone. Even the sky." The Doctor paused and took a deep breath. "My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust before its time."

"What happened?" The blonde asked gently, laying a hand on his arm.

"There was a war... and we lost."

_The Time War that Coffa mentioned?_

"What about your people?"

"I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the _last_ of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own 'cos there's no one else."

Rose peered up at the Doctor, eyes bright with sincerity. "There's me."

"You've seen how dangerous it is, how horrible the universe can be. Don't you want to go?"

"Doctor, how could I leave?" she replied softly. "Look around us right now. Do you know what I see? _Life_. I see something worth saving. Didn't you agree to show me what makes the universe so fantastic?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

Their conversation stagnated and dissolved into a comfortable silence as they allowed themselves to be swept along the coursing river of people. Finally, the pair stopped by a collection of shops where the smell of grease and salt proliferated.

"So, chips? You're paying, right?" Rose gave the Doctor a tongue-touched grin. He quirked his lips.

"No money."

"What sort of date are you? Right then, before you get me back in that box, chips it is, and I'm paying. Come on tightwad!" she laughed and tugged him towards the nearby chippy.

* * *

**Guys. _GUYS_. I was thinking about making a little side-story featuring adventures with the Dalek, not involving the Dalek in this story! (Omg haha)**

**You probably hate me for another short chapter, but it takes me two days to write one plot-involved 4000-5000 worded chapter (mostly because I'm a super perfectionist). And right now I'm trying to keep up one chapter every two days (why do I do this to myself), so this is me giving myself a little break. Shuusshh.**

**Q: Do sudden, sincere compliments embarrass Rose, or does she treat them lightly? And why do you think so?**

**Author: Well, canon Rose was pretty good at treating compliments lightly... **

**"You're absolutely brilliant!" "Thanks, you aren't so bad yourself." **

**Instead of, say, blushing, stammering, etc.**

**But our Rose is a bit of a nerd, meaning she's become slightly introverted (like me, and many of you guys), and compliments can often embarrass us. Personally, sincere compliments make me nervous, and I like to deflect them. ("Hey, you're really smart!" "Um, thanks, haha, um, do you know what's for lunch?")**

**(I'm so good at social interactions yo.)**


	8. The Unquiet Dead - Part I

Rose threw her head back and did a little twirl, taking in the kaleidescope of lights swirling above her. Her heels kicked up some of the cotton-like fluff that layered the ground.

"It's so beautiful," she laughed, throwing herself onto a soft cushion of white.

(_"What _is_ this?" she'd asked earlier._

_"You don't want to know," was the short response.)_

"Yeah, it is," the Doctor said from somewhere on her left. She turned to look at him, meeting his eyes before he glanced away. "It'd be even better if you had 16 different photoreceptor pigments, like a certain Earth animal. Humans are really very primitive."

"Are you saying I'd be better off as a mantis shrimp?"

"Yeah." He gave her a cheeky grin, brows raised. Rose tried to quell her smile and replace it with a mock scowl, but failed miserably.

A tiny ball of light shot over to her and whizzed through her hair, leaving streams of color intermingled with the blonde strands. She laughed when another tiny ball sped towards the Doctor and impacted his forehead in all its technicolour glory, making his face screw up in distaste. It dizzily spiraled around his head several times before joining its fellow in Rose's hair.

She laid peacefully beside the Doctor for a while, until a flock of lights came over and tickled her into a game of tag. When she finally returned, her cheeks were rosy and her eyes bright.

"Can I - "

"_No_."

"You're just cross 'cos they like me better," she grinned. He rolled his eyes.

"We don't have the necessary atmospheric conditions to sustain a life form of this composition. The only reason you can still breathe right now is the TARDIS."

"Oh, is that why we're standing here with the doors open? I was wondering about that!"

The Time Lord bustled his companion back into the blue box. "Shoo," he told the little lights. They waggled at him petulantly but shot away when he glared.

Rose plopped herself onto the jump seat and gave him an eager, expectant look. "Where to next?"

"I've finished showing you the most fantastic parts of the universe. Now it's up to you Rose Tyler: where do _you_ want to go?"

"We've done alien planets... Let's go back to Earth."

"Oh."

"I've always wanted to see human history!"

"_Oh_." He gave her a grin, effectively masking his relief.

* * *

"Hold that one down!" The TARDIS shook violently as She shuttled her passengers through the Time Vortex.

"I'm holding this one down!" Rose yelled back.

"Well, hold them both down," the Doctor snapped (rather unreasonably in Rose's opinion).

"Oh, this won't be very big on dignity..." the gymnast stretched her leg over half the console and landed her foot on a doohickey of alien origin.

"Oi!" the Doctor protested as Rose accidentally knocked his hand with her foot.

"Sorry!"

"Now, let's have a look. 1860. How does 1860 sound?"

"What happened in 1860?"

"I don't know, let's find out. Hold on, here we go!"

* * *

By the time the blue box landed on a snowy street, the pair of time travelers contained within were lying on the floor.

"Blimey!"

"You're telling me. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I think so. Nothing broken. Are we there?"

"Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860."

"It's Christmas!"

"All yours."

"But, just think about it. Christmas in 1860. It happens once, just once... and then it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead, events that have gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago. I guess it's no wonder you never stay still."

"Not a bad life."

"Better with two," Rose told him, tongue peeking out of her grin. He grinned back at her. "Come on, let's go!"

"Oi, where do you think you're going?"

"1860," she said, raising her brow as she walked towards the door. "I'm wearing a dress, it's not revealing. Isn't it fine?"

"19th century? They'll think you a right prostitute, Barbarella. Unless you want to be stoned, go to the wardrobe and pick out something era-appropriate. Hurry up!"

"Oh, all right."

The Doctor kept grinning though, even after she left.

* * *

The Time Lord was working under the console when Rose finally emerged, coiffed and attired for 1860.

"What took you so long?" he grumbled, carefully extracting his head. He looked up.

"I got lost again. Three times! I swear, if it weren't for those arrows pointing my way..." the blonde trailed off as she noticed the Doctor staring at her. "What? Please don't laugh."

"You're beautiful."

"I, um." Colour flooded into Rose's cheeks. "I - oh look, you didn't change clothes again!"

"No I did, look, different jumper."

She rolled her eyes at him and stepped out of the TARDIS onto a pile of fresh snow, grateful for the cold air against her flushed cheeks. The blonde bounced lightly on the balls of her feet a few times as she waited for the Doctor to exit. Rose took a deep breath of the crisp winter air.

_I'm witnessing history, and it smells so _clean_!_

The designated driver finally emerged and grinned fondly at her as they started off. As the pair walked down the street, Rose swiveled her head left and right to try to assimilate what she was seeing with her own meagre knowledge of Naples.

"You know, I imagined more catacombs. This doesn't really look like Italy," she absentmindedly told the frowning Doctor.

"No it doesn't." Confused, he went to buy a newspaper and was nearly run over by an rushing hearse.

Rose felt a spark of anger beginning to stir in her gut at the reckless driving, but her temper was quickly quelled by a panicked "Sorry!" from the woman up front.

"I got the flight a bit wrong," the Doctor said as he returned and resumed their walk.

"I don't care," she told him, smiling.

"It's not 1860, it's 1869."

"I don't care."

"And it's not Naples."

"I don't care!" Rose was grinning like a loon now.

"It's Cardiff."

Rose faltered for a moment. "Right." She cleared her throat and shook her head. "Right. Well it's still history, and I'm going to enjoy it."

Screams suddenly erupted from a nearby building.

"_That's_ more like it." The two grinned at each other and ran towards the mass of fleeing people.

"... The whole blooming world can see that!" Rose heard, as she and the Doctor burst into the theater. Something green and translucent flew at the Doctor's head, forcing him to duck.

"Fantastic," he exclaimed as he stood back up.

The last wisps of the green light escaped from a old woman's mouth, and she slumped over.

Rose approached the important looking man on the stage. "What's happening here?" He looked rather disgruntled at the fleeing crowd, so she assumed he knew what'd happened.

"Nothing to worry yourself over. A mere light show meant to scare."

Rose gave the man an incredulous look. _That was _not_ a light show._

"Oi, I need to examine that! Where d'you think you're going?" The Doctor was scowling at two people departing with the old woman's body. "Rose, if you've got that, I'll be outside," he told her vaguely, before setting off.

"Be careful!" she called, deftly vaulting onto the stage. The Time Lord merely grunted and kept walking.

Rose addressed the man now in front of her. "Sir, did the... creature... say anything? Do anything? Please describe what happened in detail. I'm- uh- Detective Rose by the way."

"Detective? Aren't you a bit young? You look too high born."

"You have no right to question my life choices," she sniffed, nose angled high. "You aren't my father."

Rose had to abandon her mock-indignation when the green light zoomed at them, forcing the two to duck. When Rose straightened up, she saw the light joining a lamp on the wall and seemingly dissolving into the fire.

"Sir, is that a gas lamp?" she asked the man beside her, still staring at the light source.

"Why yes, of course."

"Then... of course! It's made of gas!" The blonde ran out, eager to tell the Doctor about this new discovery.

When she exited the building, Rose expected the Doctor to be crouching over an old woman, waving his sonic screwdriver about. Instead, what she saw was the top of his head disappearing into the hearse that had nearly crashed into him earlier. A brunette woman slammed shut the doors and ran to the front of the carriage.

"Doctor!" Rose yelled, running towards the horse drawn vehicle.

"Young lady, I demand you tell me what you know about that hobgoblin!" The hearse pulled away and Rose stared after it, clenching her hands into tight fists. "Projection on glass I suppose," the man continued. "What do you think?"

"Please, not now." She frantically looked around. Spotting a nearby carriage, she ran towards it and jumped into the passenger car. "Driver, follow that hearse!"

"You can't do that!"

The man had followed her to the carriage.

"Why not?" she asked, lips twisting into a frown.

"Why not? I'll give you a very good reason why not. This is _my_ coach!"

"Well, come on!" Rose grabbed his arm and swiftly pulled him in. To the driver, she said, "Please, quick as you can!"

The coach rumbled off.

"Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?"

_Wait. Wait wait wait wait. You've got to be kidding me!_

"No, I can't say it is!" Dickens snapped irritably. "Let me say this first. I'm understand that one may, at times, be in a state of great urgency - "

"Mister Dickens?"

"Yes."

"Mister _Charles_ Dickens?"

"Yes."

"_The_ Charles Dickens?"

"Shall I stop the horses, sir?"

"Oh my God, it's Charles Dickens! You're brilliant! I loved - no, _love_ your books! I've read 'em all, even when it wasn't required school reading..."

_Oh no, his books probably aren't required school reading at this point. Quick, distract him._

"... A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House, Hard Times and - what's the other one, the one with the ghost?"

"A Christmas Carol?"

"No, the terrifying one with the trains... The Signal Man, that's it. I got chills reading it!" Dickens looked very pleased at this sudden outpouring of praise. He luckily had not noticed her faux pas. "The best short story ever written. You're an absolute genius!"

"You want me to escort the lady out, sir?"

"Er, no, she can stay," Charles replied.

"Honestly, Charles - sir, can I call you Charles? I'm really such a big fan."

"...what? A what?"

"A fan! And trust me, you'll be hard pressed to find a bigger one."

"How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool? And you are not nearly as large as you say."

"Oh, do they not have - " she cut herself off. No need to let him know she was from a different century. "It means 'fanatic', as in someone devoted to or admiring of something. Mind you, I've got to say, you really didn't have to try so hard to incorporate humor into Great Expectations. I would have preferred it if you'd let it be more serious, like A Tale of Two Cities."

"Well that's not what the people wanted, now was it? You wouldn't believe how much they fussed and moaned!" He gave her a disgruntled look. "I thought you said you were my fan."

"Sorry, I just thought it was a bit rubbish. The greatest instructor of the Nineteenth Century, and he's pandered to the whims of the superficial masses."

Remembering that Dickens could kick her off the vehicle at any moment, Rose glanced sideways to gauge his reaction - only to see the author looking rather chuffed.

"'The greatest instructor of the Nineteenth Century'? Is that what they call me these days?"

"Uh, yeah, yes - " _in your obituary, that is. _"They said that your social commentary was exquisite, and, erm... Driver! We need to go faster!"

The carriage picked up speed.

"So why exactly are we chasing that hearse?"

"My friend is in there. I asked him to bring me here, so in a manner of speaking, it's my fault that he's in danger. I _need_ to get to him, make sure he's not hurt."

"Then why are we wasting time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver! Be swift! The chase is on!"

"Yes sir!"

Rose gave Dickens a delighted grin. "Charlie, has anyone told you you're rather brilliant?"

"_You_ did, actually. Twice. Did you just say Charlie?"

"Isn't that what women called you?"

"Well, yes."

"Well then!" Rose rubbed her hands together as the hearse neared a funeral home. "Ready for a rescue operation, Charlie boy?

"No time like the present, madame."

* * *

**Personally, I imagine the white fluff is made up of layers of dead sparkle-bugs (no, they aren't really bugs). The sparkle-bugs don't rot, since they aren't organic, but neither do they live forever - and the dead carcasses have to go somewhere.**

**Other possibilities: sparkle-bug defecation, sparkle-bugs that aren't dead but have lost their energy, remnants of the long dead previous inhabitants of the planet, or fungus.**

**Sorry guys, but I really need to study for AP, so I'll be posting shorter chapters. So, 3 or 4 updates of around 2000-3000 words per plot related adventure, instead of two 4000/5000 word installments. Also, sorry for taking so long to get this one up!**

**Q: Rose punches Sneed. Yes or no? (Actually this does have plot-related consequences, but not because of Sneed's reaction.**** If you give me nice long review, I'll tell you why, so you can make an informed answer! :3**)

**Please review lovelies!**


	9. The Unquiet Dead - Part II

Dickens knocked on the door, a series of sharp, quick raps. There was no response from the inhabitants of _Sneed and Company_.

"They are most definitely here. Do they hope to deceive us into leaving?"

He knocked again, louder this time.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the door was finally opened by the same brown haired woman Rose had seen earlier.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said, looking rather nervous. "We're closed."

"Nonsense! Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master."

"He's not in, sir." The girl was getting fidgety now. She tried to close the door on them, but Rose stuck her foot in the doorway and forced it open. The blonde gave the other girl, who looked shocked at the sight of her, a polite, joyless smile.

"Excuse me, but I think you have my friend."

"Lady R-, Miss, I don't know what you speak of - "

"Oh I'm sorry, I believe I've phrased that incorrectly; I didn't mean 'I think'. I meant 'I _know_'." Dickens gave her a bemused look, thrown off by this sudden acerbity from someone who had been the epitome of pleasant just seconds earlier. The brunnette in front of them looked hurt, for some reason.

"But I - I'm very sorry, but I really can't help you - "

"Where is he." It wasn't so much a question as a threat.

A gas lamp flared up from behind the girl. Remembering the phenomenon at the theater, Rose forced her way through the door and pressed her ear against the wall under the lamp.

"You're not allowed inside, miss!"

"There's something in these walls. It's... living in the gas? Look, just tell me where the Doctor is. He can help you - !"

Just then, the aforementioned Time Lord walked out from the end of the corridor, followed by an old man with white sideburns.

"... I will not be trampled over in my own home!"

"Ah, and you seem to be having trouble with your gas too."

Rose's stern expression crumpled as she gave a relieved laugh.

"Doctor, you're okay!"

Following her outburst, the situation quickly dissolved into a mess of people trying to talk over each other.

"Rose, when did you get here?"

"Who in God's name are you?"

"Just now, you see - "

"I told you to get rid of them!"

"I tried, sir..."

(A murmered, "That's the Doctor...?" went unheard.)

"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens finally hollered, fed up with the senseless chaos.

No one said anything for a brief moment.

"I'll go first then, shall I?" The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Zombies, Rose. I was attacked by zombies!" He looked entirely too gleeful about his near death at the hands of the undead.

"What the deuce is a zom-bee?" Dickens demanded.

The Doctor blinked, as if just noticing the man. "Rose, who's your friend?"

"Oh, you won't believe this... It's Charles Dickens. _The_ Charles Dickens!"

"Pull the other one!"

"I'm serious! Charlie, this is the Doctor."

"Charlie?" the Doctor muttered to the side, confused.

"Am I to presume he is another... 'fan'?"

"Fan! That's me, Number One Fan. Go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up. No sorry, important matter at hand, walking dead, nearly died." The Doctor gave the unidentified old man a pointed look, complete with raised brows.

"Gwyneth," the old man sighed. "I shall show the men to the parlour room - " Rose glared so he quickly added " - as well as the lady. Make us tea."

* * *

"... so I let myself be captured, since I reckoned that's where all the good stuff is happening."

When Mr. Sneed and Gwyneth gave him a surprised look, the Doctor clarified, "Didn't need to breathe for a long while. Superior physiology, me."

Rose, who was slumped in an armchair, interrupted before anyone could start asking questions. "In the theater I saw that blue thing dissolve straight into the petrol of a lamp, so I'm fairly sure we're dealing with gas creatures. Actually, didn't you just say this building has a gas problem?"

"I thought so. Other than slowed decomposition, that old woman was no different from any other dead body. Soon 's the gas enters stage left, there we go, the dead are walking."

"It must be a prank. You were under some mesmeric influence."

"Not likely," the Doctor scoffed. Rose shot up when she realised what the Doctor had said.

"Wait. Are you saying you were completely fine this entire time, and you didn't even think to tell me? I was worried sick!"

"What, you were worried? About me?"

"Of course I was worried, you- you muppet!" The Doctor looked surprised and quite pleased at this revelation, and it made Rose feel rather fond of him.

She hit him on the arm anyway.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right," she sniffed. "And as for you, Mister Sneed. I am Detective Rose, and I have come here under official orders from, erm, Her Majesty the Queen, to investigate the supernatural occurrence at the theater earlier this evening."

"I demand to see your documents!"

"Documents, er... Doctor, show him my documents." He sniggered but nonetheless obeyed and flashed the physic paper at Sneed. "I believe you will find my documents more than adequate for an investigation. Go on sir, talk."

He anxiously mopped his forehead. "It's not my fault, it's this house! It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back. And then the stiffs - "

Charles gave him an offended look.

" - the er, dear departed started getting restless."

"Tommyrot."

"You witnessed it! Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk! And it's the queerest thing that they hang on to scraps..."

Gwyneth gave Rose her tea.

"Three sugars and a splash of milk, miss, just how you like it."

The Doctor and Rose both stared at her retreating back curiously.

"I never told her that," the blonde muttered to her designated driver.

"Huh."

"... almost walked into his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir! Just as she planned."

"Morbid fancy."

"But Charlie, you were there. You saw it!" Rose protested.

"I saw nothing but an illusion."

"If you're going to deny it, don't waste our time. Just shut up," the Doctor snapped.

Dickens sat there, stunned; Rose couldn't help but to look up questioningly at the Doctor.

He refused to meet her eyes as he kept speaking. "What about the gas?"

"That's new, sir, never seen anything like that."

"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through."

"What's 'the rift'?"

"A weak point in time and space. The connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time."

Sneed looked as if the secrets of the Earth had been divulged to him. "That's how I got the house so cheap."

As the two spoke, Rose spotted Charles sneaking out of the room.

"... stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air and this feeling like a... shadow. Passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."

* * *

"Look, Doctor, you clearly want to apologize to him."

"I do not!"

"It's really very obvious. Meeting your heroes is hard, but you have to man up and just go talk to him, okay? I'll be in the kitchen, helping out poor Gwyneth."

As she left, Rose could hear the Doctor muttering, "I _am _manly."

She grinned.

* * *

Gwyneth was lighting another gas lamp when Rose came in and started to help with the washing up.

"Please, miss. You shouldn't be working. It's not right!"

"Don't be daft. Of course it's alright. I'm really sorry, you know, for earlier." She handed the servant girl a cloth to dry the plates she washed. "How much do you get paid for your work anyway?"

"I used to get eight pound, but now I get fifteen pound a year, miss."

_Even considering the year..._ "That's not nearly enough! That man works you half to death!"

"Oh no, miss, please don't say such things, I would've been happy with six! My master is incredibly generous."

Rose was aghast at such a sentiment, but quickly changed the topic when she saw Gwyneth looking distraught at her words.

"You went to school, yeah?"

"Of course I did. I went every Sunday, nice and proper."

"Once a week?"

"We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second."

"Me too! They say it's for our own good, but it's really just an excuse to torture us, isn't it?"

They both laughed.

"Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own!" Gwyneth said, as if expecting the blonde to be scandalized.

"_No_!" Rose gasped, grinning at the other woman.

The servant girl nodded and beamed back.

"What about boys then, anyone who's caught your eye?"

"Well, I don't know if I can talk about that, miss," the girl replied embarrassedly. She turned back to the washing.

"Well now I _know_ you've got your eye on someone!"

"There is one lad... The butcher's boy. Such a lovely smile on him. We're courting now, thanks to y- thanks to a very kind Lady I met."

_Thanks to who?_

Rose let it pass for now, and instead smirked deviously. "Oh, I like a nice smile. Nice smile... nice bum!" The blonde burst into giggles.

"Well, I have never heard the like!" Gwyneth protested, but she dissolved into laughter as well.

"Anywhat, good for you, snagging yourself a nice man like that."

"I swear, miss, it is the strangest thing. You've got all the clothes and the breeding but you speak a bit like a wild thing!"

"Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mr Sneed."

"Ah, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in. I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."

"I'm so sorry." Rose grasped one of Gwyneth's hands with her own.

"Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, miss."

"My dad...?"

Gwyneth realised what she said and let go of her hand, turning quickly back to the dishes. "A lucky guess, it must have been."

"And my tea, too?"

"I - I..."

"You're psychic, aren't you? You can see into people's minds." Gwyneth looked as if she would have a panic attack. "No, it's alright. Don't worry about it. I think it's brilliant, actually."

"It's nothing so grand as that. Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you miss."

"No, no servants where I'm from."

"And you've come such a long way."

"What makes you think so?"

"You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that." She stared at Rose intently. "All that information, towers and towers of knowledge. And the noise... the metal boxes racing past... and the contraptions in the sky... enormous metal birds roaring with fire, with people in them. People flying. People touching the moon! And you - you've flown so far, further than anyone. The things you've seen... such cleverness, such power... but at what price? My Lady... time is ticking... the darkness... the Big Bad Wolf - "

She staggered backwards, afraid.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, miss!"

"It's fine, it's okay. Just breathe. That's it, take deep breaths." Though she was somewhat unsettled as well, Rose held one of Gwyneth's hands as she rubbed the servant girl's back.

"I can't help it - ever since I was a little girl. My mum told me to hide it."

"But it's getting stronger, more powerful. Is that right?" Rose and Gwyneth both startled as the Doctor emerged from the shadows of the corridor to stand at the doorway.

"All the time, sir. Every night. Voices in my head."

"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key."

"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts."

"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."

"Show us what to do where, Doctor?"

"We're going to have a séance."

* * *

**A chapter with lots of heavy foreshadowing.**

**I borrowed my new cover art from Pandablubb, over at deviantart. She didn't make it for me or anything, I'm just using it - with permission, of course. You'll find the original here (take the stars out): **

** pandablubb.*deviantart.*com*/art/Doctor-Who-Rose-Tyler-ACEO-352784425**

**Also, where are my more verbose readers? (Shadowntr, A guest, AFireflyInSerenity, Technokitty818, LadyBrae, **_**I'm looking at you guys**_**! Genesis Chi always gives long reviews, you awesome woman.) I love all my beautiful reviewers - I would be nothing without your feedback - but the essays are what really help me keep on track. I want to know what I'm doing wrong as well as what I'm doing right.**

**You guys have spoiled me so much. XD**

**Q: Which type of female character do you feel yourself most attracted to/graviating towards whenever you watch or read something fictional? (Ex: quirky, cute, sassy, energetic, intellectual, no-nonsense, funny...)**

**I personally like heroines who are friendly, funny and sassy, but also preceptive and empathetic. A getting things done attitude that's borderline rude makes me really uncomfortable, as well as too much no-nonsense. Watching canon Rose, though I love her, sometimes made me wince (she can be a bit rude and insensitive at times****).**


	10. The Unquiet Dead - Part III

**We're nearing 100 reviews! :D**

**The 100th reviewer will get a prize. What is this prize? It'll be either a oneshot, a cameo (you can fit in yourself or another character into the story, either in a brief scene or as a companion for one adventure), or a certain event or situation in the story happening as according to your request, so long as it doesn't disrupt the plot. **

**Or you could ask about one of my future plots or schemes. I do have quite a few interesting ideas planned out for later on, ranging from entire episodes**** (omg I'm so excited for New Earth)****, to general plans, to very specific scenes, to a certain Very Important Occurrence that will happen/is happening to Rose.**

**If you're the 100th reviewer, I'll PM you (since ffnet updates the numbers pretty slowly on the site) and you can choose one option. Just ask, and you'll [probably] receive.**

**I'm going to do this for the 150th reviewer (and every 50 afterward, if there are that many reviews), so the more you guys review, the better! C:**

* * *

"A séance?" Rose asked, as they walked down the corridor. "So ghosts and the supernatural are real?

"Of course not!" the Doctor scoffed. She gave him an unimpressed look.

"What?"

"You've shown me an orchestra of singing cabinets and a planet of sentient stuffed toys and sunsets that literally paint themselves onto a white horizon. You can't truthfully tell me that you expected me to keep a closed mind about ghost stories."

He grinned. "Can't I?"

She gave him a look that was both annoyed and amused. "No, you can't."

"You sure?"

"Yes!"

"How sure?"

"Doctor!" She grinned and playfully nudged his shoulder with hers. "So if it's not ghosts, then what are we looking for?"

"Aliens."

"It's always aliens with you."

"Course it is!"

* * *

All of them sat around a large table with Gwyneth at the head, flanked on either side by Rose and the Doctor.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists. I shall be calling on creatures of a different form, but I have been told the procedure is much the same. Let us all join hands."

Dickens grimaced and frowned, obviously uncomfortable with taking part in something he considered absolutely ridiculous.

"Come on Charles, open mind, like we said."

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I try to un-mask. A séance? Creatures of a different form? This girl clearly knows nothing."

"Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium."

"Ha-ha-ha, you're so punny," Rose said, rolling her eyes. She patted Dickens's shoulder. "Calm down Charlie. If you think nothing's going to happen, then there's no harm in doing it anyway."

Dickens grumbled but nonetheless settled back into his seat.

"Thanks. Now Gwyneth, reach out."

"Spirits. Speak to us. Are you there?" Seeing that Dickens was rolling his eyes, Rose poked the author's arm and shushed him. "Come. Speak to us that we may understand your burden."

Gwyneth raised her eyes to the ceiling.

Rose shivered violently as an unnerving murmur filled the room, accompanied by a chill that permeated her very pores. A cloyingly sweet smell diffused through the room, the stench resembling petrol but somehow more vaporous.

"This is sheer trickery," Dickens sputtered. "This is just - just - "

"I feel them!" Gwyneth cried, throwing back her head. Nubilous blue figures pressed themselves against what seemed like the very fabric of reality. As they strained to push through, Rose could see Gwyneth struggling to maintain control.

"The rift isn't in control, _you_ are," the Doctor called. "Make the link!"

"I can't!"

Rose tightened her grip on the other girl's hand. _Come on Gwyneth, I have faith in you. Just one. Just one is fine. You can do it, I know you can._

As the pain fogging her expression faded away, so did the multitude of murky blue shapes.

A single remaining figure was quickly brought into stark focus.

"Pity the Gelth!" It cried in a childlike voice. Rose shivered again. "Pity us. There is so little time, help us."

"What do you want us to do?" the Doctor asked.

"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."

Rose raised her voice so that she would be heard over the Doctor's "What for?"

"If we do that, what consequences will there be for humankind? Will that hurt Gwyneth?"

"The girl will not be harmed by our hands. We require use only of your dead."

Rose narrowed her eyes at the way that was worded. The Doctor looked to have his own suspicions.

"You attacked me earlier. How do we know you won't do it again, to others?"

"We are so desperate. Our numbers are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."

Rose's glare sharpened at the non-answer, but its words seemed to strike a chord with the last Time Lord.

"Why, what happened?"

"Once we had a physical form like you. But then the war came."

"War? What war?" Dickens interrupted.

"The Time War."

Rose's eyes met the Doctor's, and she knew he wouldn't be able to resist the guilt.

"The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."

"So that's why you need the corpses."

"We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste, give them to us!"

"Exactly how many do you need?" Rose asked, mind racing.

"We do not require many. The Gelth are few."

"So it shouldn't be hard to give us an exact number, right? That way we can prepare the bodies and you can have an easy transition."

"That will not be necessary. The Gelth only require the link - "

"No, you listen to me. Tell us an exact number, or we'll let you die. _Every single last one of you_."

"Rose!" The Doctor sounded furious. Rose's heart twisted cruelly, but she managed not to flinch.

"It's not that hard," she continued, seemingly unbothered. Rose pretended she wasn't terrified by the dark look the Doctor was directing at her; an amalgamation of fury and disappointment. "If there's so few of you, it's easy to count. Just tell us the number."

The gaseous lifeform wavered for a moment. "There are twelve of us."

"Just twelve?"

"There are twelve of us."

_Another non-answer._

"And the Gelth promise not to harm Gwyneth, in any way?"

"The girl will not be harmed by our hands."

"And your bodies?"

"The girl will not be harmed by our physical forms."

"And your minds?"

"The girl will not be harmed by our mental faculties."

_There's something I'm missing._

"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!" The blue figure faded away before Rose could extract a final promise from the Gelth.

There was a brief, tense silence, before Gwyneth collapsed forwards onto the table.

"Gwyneth!"

As Dickens had an existential breakdown, the Doctor stood up and glared at her coldly.

"You'd commit genocide for such a trivial reason? I guess I've gone and done it again, I've picked up another stupid, selfish ape."

Through the thorny briars of hurt that wrapped around her heart and gouged at her with its spines, Rose could feel her ire rising to match his. She allowed the her temper, fierce but usually tightly reigned, to escape from its leash, and armored herself in its liberating anger.

"How dare you call _me_ stupid, you dense dolt! That thing was obviously lying through its teeth!"

"Oh and how would _you_ know that, Miss High and Mighty? Been around for 900 years, have you?"

"If you had even an iota of common sense, you would clearly see that twelve is a number they've pulled straight of of their arses. They're lying to us! There was more than twenty of them _in this room_ when they first appeared!"

"28," Dickens interjected confidently. He faltered when two piercing sets of eyes shot towards him. "I- I counted at least 28 separate figures at the onset of the... séance."

"And not only that, but if a so-called higher life form is being driven to extinction by something _after_ the Time War has finished, who's to say that that same thing won't follow the Gelth through the rift? Humans aren't developed enough to deal with that kind of predator or illness!"

"So you're saying we should let a whole race die because one selfish girl doesn't want to get sick?"

She slapped him.

The Doctor gaped at her, holding his assaulted cheek with one hand. "I'm _saying_ that there has to be a better way!"

When the Doctor remained shocked, Rose sighed. "Oh, don't be such a girl, it wasn't even all that hard." She lifted his palm off his cheek and inspected the pinkening mark.

"Charlie, lay Gwyneth out on the settee please," Rose called, as she took the Doctor by the hand and pulled him over to the kitchen.

* * *

"I'm sorry for hitting you," the blonde said as she placed a cold washcloth over the Time Lord's cheek.

The Doctor, slumped against the wall, gritted his teeth at the sudden pressure against his tender skin, light though it was. Disquieted by his continued silence (_Does he hate me now? Please don't hate me. What if he sends me back home?_), Rose couldn't stop herself from trying to chatter the tension away.

"I just thought, there must be a way to do this without risking anybody..."

He said nothing, so she nervously kept talking.

"I had this idea, actually, that maybe we could let the Gelth possess the corpses of small, harmless animals, and then we could stick them in a cage until we got them proper bodies and maybe we could find them a nice abandoned planet to live on, but then I realised that to collect that many corpses would take quite a while. Maybe if we had more time..."

The Doctor shot up. "That's it!"

"What?"

"Rose, you clever girl, I don't know how I ever thought you were anything less than brilliant! I mean the cage might not be necessary, but..."

Now understanding what he meant, Rose protested, "But the time - "

"The TARDIS."

She blinked once, twice... And then slapped her forehead. "I _am_ stupid. We have bloody _time machine_!"

"Fantastic!" He laughed and the two excitedly hugged. "You stay here and take care of these guys, I'll be back in a mo'."

"Don't be nine years off this time!" she yelled at his swiftly departing back. He merely waved and disappeared around a corner.

Relieved that the Doctor wasn't angry at her anymore, Rose grabbed a few clean rags and a bowl of cold water before setting off to the parlour, to take care of Gwyneth and explain the situation to the two 19th century men.

* * *

Four minutes later, Gwyneth woke to the sensation of someone gently wiping a cool, damp cloth over her forehead. She was nearly lulled back to oblivion by the tender _care_ that broadcasted insistently from a familiar mind.

Reality soon jolted the servant girl when she realised it was not the encompassing blanket of maternal warmth that she was used to; rather, this more closely resembled concern towards an acquaintance that one felt kindly about.

"Are you alright?" Lady Rose asked, leaning over her. Stray strands of blonde hair tickled Gwyneth's cheek.

The girl pushed the disappointment away. "Yes, miss. And what of the creatures from afar? Can they be saved?"

"The Doctor is working on it right now," Rose told her. "But... We need you to help. Without you, this won't work."

Rose misinterpreted Gwyneth's thoughtful pause as reluctance. "It might not be safe though, so if you don't want to do it, we'll understand. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"I want to help you, Miss Rose."

"Well that's good news," the Doctor's voice announced. " 'Cos I don't know what else to do with this."

He gestured towards a large contraption with five solid, glittering walls of some sort with the remaining side closed off by the strategic arrangement of a strange silvery thread, woven into a pattern that disallowed even the smallest of beasties from passing through.

* * *

As the Doctor explained her plan - and his copious improvements on it - to the rest of the room's inhabitants, Rose cracked open the silken cage door to examine what creatures the Doctor had decided to be suitable for such an endeavor.

"Urck!" She reared back violently as a foul odor assailed her nose. "Doctor, what - ?"

"Sorry, forgot to warn you. Those are gloobeens, used as bait on Nothveros W3. Awful stench. I got a bucket full of them real cheap from a Punpereon named Steve."

"Why couldn't you have just gotten rats or something?"

"When these buggers decompose, they give off high amounts of hydrogen sulfide - that's the stink - meaning lots of gas for the Gelth to possess easily."

"Gross." Rose pulled a face and backed away from the cage, returning to Gwyneth's side. She took in the brunette's pale complexion. "Gwyneth, if you don't feel up to it, you don't have to force yourself."

The servant girl smiled at her. "Just tell me what to do."

"Good girl," the Doctor said approvingly. Rose beamed proudly at Gwyneth.

(If asked, Rose would swear up and down that not even in the deepest, darkest parts of her - not even in that shadowed area that was cordoned off with bright yellow tape and usually went unacknowledged - did she feel the slightest hint of jealousy.

Because she didn't.

_Obviously._)

"Now we just need to find the rift." The Doctor paced towards the undertaker. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed. What's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"

"That would be the morgue."

Rose sighed. "I knew it wouldn't be the Zen garden."

Everyone stared at her.

* * *

After moving the corpses to the room farthest away from the morgue, the Doctor set up the cage.

"Now, I don't really think we'll need this, but just in case Rose is right, I've made sure that gas can't pass out of the cage when all the walls are closed."

"Won't that mean we'll have to keep the door open so they can get in?"

"Yeah."

"Gross. Well, at least we know this works. I mean, corpses weren't shambling around in 1869 as far as I know."

"Hopefully you're right, but time's in flux, changing every second. The world can be rewritten like that." He snapped his fingers. "Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing."

The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

"Here they come."

A single Gelth swooped out of a gas lamp to stand underneath the arch, and Rose crinkled her nose at the smell.

"You have come to help! Praise the Doctor! Praise him!"

"Promise me again, you won't hurt Gwyneth," Rose called.

She was ignored.

"Hurry! Please. So little time. Pity the Gelth."

"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?"

Gwyneth silently went forward and brought herself slightly to the left of where the solitary Gelth floated, positioning a foot behind a bump on the floor. Something long and thin glittered near the brunette's hair, but it disappeared again when Rose tilted her head.

"The girl is in position. Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!"

"Yes, I see you! Come."

"Bridgehead establishing."

"Come to this world. We will help you."

"It is begun! The bridge is made!"

The Doctor popped open the door of the cage as Gwyneth's mouth opened and the Gelth began pouring out. Rose gagged, both at the stench and at how horrid she imagined that to feel.

Maybe she should have told Gwyneth not to do this…

"She has given herself to the Gelth!"

"There's rather a lot of them, eh?" Dickens remarked nervously. "A bit more than 28."

"The bridge is open. We descend."

Suddenly, the first blue figure swiftly turned a satanic red, its jagged teeth spiked cruelly.

"**The Gelth will come through in force**," it roared with a deep, malevolent voice. Long gone was the sweet childlike creature it had pretended to be.

However, unbeknownst to the apparent leader, the Gelth who passed by the cage began to stream into it one by one.

"I knew it," Rose snapped. "Twelve my arse! What happen to 'a few'?!"

"**Silence, pathetic Earthling**," it snarled. "**Your complaints and demands are useless. There are a few **_**billion **_**of us, and all in need of corpses.**"

"I trusted you. I pitied you!" the Doctor yelled.

"**We don't want your pity. We want this world and all it's flesh.**"

"Not while I'm alive."

"**Then live no more.**"

The Doctor snapped the door of the cage shut when the Gelth stopped entering it, and turned to Rose. "I'm sorry. You were right. I should have listened…"

"Look, that doesn't matter anymore. Let's just focus on stopping these guys from finding the _human _corpses, yeah?"

They managed to grin at each other, despite the hundreds of Gelth swirling into the room.

"**We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead.**"

"Alright guys." Rose pulled Dickens and Mr. Sneed to the door. "Time to evacuate. Help the Doctor out with the cage, I'll try to help Gwyneth from in here."

A series of Gelth exited the room through the walls, and several more chased after the men as they ran out of the building. Rose ducked and weaved to avoid having any Gelth enter her body - she didn't know if they could possess a living person, but she wouldn't take the chance - as she rushed over to Gwyneth and took the girl by the shoulders.

"**Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth!**"

"Gwyneth, you need to send them back!"

"They're too strong," the girl cried. "I can't!"

The blonde grabbed Gwyneth's wrist, intending to at least pull her out from under the arch so they could escape. The other girl resisted.

"What are you - ?" Rose's breathing stuttered, her body freezing in place. She let Gwyneth pull her arm back. "_No_."

"I'm sorry, Lady Rose."

The Doctor burst into the room, several of the relocated dead bodies chasing him. He ripped out a gas pipe as he rushed to Rose and grabbed her limp hand. The Time Lord dragged the unresisting girl to the back of the room, shutting a dungeon door behind them and pressing the both of them against the wall. "Right, so Charles and the undertaker are working on the gas right now, and we'll just need to wait - Rose what's wrong?"

"Doctor… Gwyneth doesn't have a pulse," Rose said numbly.

The Doctor took in a sharp breath but choked before he could say anything. As Rose also began to cough violently, the Gelth were sucked out of their host bodies and into the air. Checking that the Gelth weren't still possessing the bodies, the Doctor pulled his companion out from the alcove and went to Gwyneth, placing his hand on her neck to feel her pulse for himself.

After a brief moment, he dropped his hand.

"I'm sorry," he told her solemnly.

"Is Miss Rose unharmed?"

"She's fine, for now."

"Then I shall hold the creatures here. Make haste, and take her to safety." She pulled a matchbox out of her apron.

He kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Rose gathered her remaining strength and hugged Gwyneth tightly until she finally ran out of oxygen. The Doctor caught Rose before she toppled to the ground. Nodding at Gwyneth one last time, he lifted the blonde in his arms and ran outside.

* * *

Mere moments after the Doctor exited of the building, Gwyneth stepped forward and struck a match.

She smiled.

* * *

**I waited for someone to notice how Rose kept accidentally talking to Charles Dickens in past tense in Part I, but nobody did. D':**

**A few points:**

- The first fight! Poor Rosie is so scared to death that the Doctor will send her home.

- Also, first hug!

- I think I should really improve on my subtlety.

- The cage has a screen made of 73rd century spider's silk just behind the clear door, so the Gelth can get in but the gloobeens can't get out. That's why none of them were wiggling out after the Gelth possessed them. The Doctor's got like 60 Gelth stuck in there right now.

- Yay, no genocide. Although Rose will be not be happy after she wakes up.

- Sneed's alive. I dunno if I'm going to make him be nice or mean about Gwyneth's sacrifice. Urk.

**There's one short chapter left before this episode is over and done with, and then an Interlude where I attempt to delve into the Doctor's mind. ****Technokitty818 asked me for more Doctor's thoughts earlier, and ****I told her that I would only give brief glimpses... But now I'm thinking I'll give it a try. No**** "Incident"s (aka: fluff chapters), with Rose being sad and all.**

**Q: RosexJack. ****How 'bout it?**

**Jack is definitely going to be in love with Rose (and with the Doctor too, because, you know. **_**Jack**_**.), but I still haven't decided if Rose will think of Jack a little more romantically than just flirting. It won't be the main pairing, but still. **_**Jack**_**.**

**I am, shamefully, a review whore. But please take pity and review! I lurve you guys.**

**Also, if you avoid reviewing because you aren't the 100th, you're a big fat dalek. o_o**


	11. The Unquiet Dead - Part IV

"The world is safe... but at such _cost_. My livelihood, my house... that poor child," Sneed sighed.

"A great personal price to pay for the survival of mankind," Dickens agreed, patting the man's shoulder.

"Doctor, are you certain that I cannot inform anyone of the happenings of this night?"

"I'm sorry."

"She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know." Sneed stared sadly at the burning building. "This has been my home and she my faithful companion for many a year... The Lord Almighty must have decided it was time to say goodbye."

Rose began to stir in the Time Lord's arms."D - Doctor?" she murmured weakly.

"Rose! How d'you feel?"

"Gwyneth...?"

"She... didn't make it."

"Gwyneth died?"

"I'm sorry, Rose. She closed the rift, but she didn't make it."

"It... It was my fault, wasn't it?"

"What?" The Doctor was bewildered. Usually at around this time, his companions were blaming _him_ for a death, not themselves.

Exposed to Rose's despondent, watery eyes, he decided that he actually preferred it that way. Significantly.

"I asked her to do it. I told her that we needed her, knowing that she would be kind enough to help."

"Rose, _I_ was the one who ignored your doubts. If anything, it was my fault."

She looked at him with dark, disbelieving eyes and gave a feeble scoff. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

He _was_ saying that to make her feel better, but that didn't make it untrue.

Unreasonably disturbed by the sparkling sheen of moisture caught in her thick lashes, he instead told her, "No, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known what would happen, and Gwyneth was clever. She knew there would be risks, but she was willing to take these risks for the planet. For us. For you. Mourning her is one thing, but how do you think she'd feel if she knew you were beating yourself up over her sacrifice?"

She shifted in discomfort at his words, and the Doctor took that as a personal triumph, an indication of his success. He tried not to feel guilty about making her feel worse.

* * *

Having said their goodbyes to Sneed and Dickens - as well as giving old Charlie-boy a fantastic parting gift - the Doctor and his companion returned to the TARDIS.

As the Doctor sent his ship back into the Time Vortex, a subdued Rose sat on the jump seat, her melancholy a direct contrast to the excitement that had filled her when she had sat there earlier that day.

"Well, we'll have to find these guys a new planet," he said, lightly kicking the cage with his foot. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get a reinforced diamond walls for this bugger - "

"Doctor. I want to go home. I... I want to see my mum."

There was a long, poignant pause.

"You - you want to go home?"

"Yes."

"Right now?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Okay."

"Yeah."

"Sorry, I just - I just thought..."

"What? Doctor, I don't mean permanently, I mean for a day or two."

"Oh."

"It's gonna take much more than this to get rid of me," she told him, finally cracking a smile.

"Yeah, I just... So. Earth, was it? The Powell Estates, London, Great Britain, Earth. Early twenty first century."

"September 18, 2005."

"That's a whole month after we left."

"Well, it would be weird to say I was going traveling and coming back the day after."

"Right."

He dialed a few knobs, punched in a few numbers, pumped a doodad and flipped a switch. Rose raised her brow at this marked difference from the usual frantic dash around the console but didn't comment.

* * *

**Short, I know. And late. I've been having fun with my new story. Plus this being a not-very-interesting part to write, I wasn't really all that eager to write out this chapter. Or the next. Man, I don't know what I'll do for Aliens of London... Not looking forward to it.**

**But speaking of my new story (Beware! Shameless self-promotion!)...**

I'm writing a Naruto and Death Note crossover, where a minor diety messes up with Sakura Haruno's life and accidentally kills her, to the chagrin of his/her/its partner. To avoid making the Big Guy mad, they put her essence/soul into a 4 year old alternate version of herself in the Death Note universe, an orphan named Sakaki who was originally due to die in a week. Sakaki physically and mostly mentally becomes Sakura (except for age), and the story is about Sakura's life in the Death Note universe from that event on, as a mercenary avoiding the chains of L's _justice,_ while trying to live like a normal person. You know, except for the secretly orphaned kid who's also a mercenary thing.

I jump from major event to major event - by major event, I mean plot relevant to my personal story event - in her life until the Death Note drops. I only properly start the series when the thing drops, which isn't for at least ten more chapters.

It's SakuMulti (not very pronounced in the romance department right now though, 'cos she's 11), with Light, L, and potentially the Whammy boys. BB will def be in either the next or the next next chapter. Hoho, I'm excited!


	12. Interlude III: A Cowardly Retreat

One facet of his mind was occupied with driving the TARDIS. Another was deeply focused on the blonde sitting on the jumpseat. A third side was pondering on the merits of replacing the retrostabilizers, and a fourth was still mourning the extinction of the Time Lords.

However, the conspicuous lack of any catastrophic, planet-threatening scheme to terminate meant the rest of his very vast mind was free to wander into undesirable territory, as it always did.

He'd said that Gwyneth had known the risks, but a part of him - the part relegated to self-flagellation - wondered about this.

Had she known? Had she really? Had she known that her life may have been forfeit? Or had she been a lamb to the slaughterhouse, with himself as the butcher?

He'd never told her that she might be putting herself in danger - he'd just assumed it was implied, and left it at that. He hadn't thought to properly, openly, warn her about it because he hadn't thought it would be necessary.

Perhaps her striking of the match was not the noble sacrifice he'd thought it was; perhaps it was the final decision of someone resigned to death anyway.

No, that was unfair to Gwyneth.

He shouldn't - _couldn't_ disrespect her memory in such a way.

He'd been unfair to Rose too.

Her arguments had all been sound of logic, her heart had been in the right place, and if it wasn't for her quick mind, who knew how many more deaths would have occurred? He'd coldly told her that she would be the cause of a genocide, but in actuality, she'd _prevented _the extinction of an entire species.

Other companions, many of them not as brilliant or clever as this one, had been allowed several chances to make mistakes before he'd finally gotten mad. She'd been slow to help, sure, and harsher in her words than was perhaps necessary, but now that he thought about it, she'd been rather reasonable about everything. So why had he been so hard on Rose?

Was it this new body, borne of fire and anger and war?

_You know exactly why_, a voice whispered. (It sounded like the Master, back when he'd worn smoking jackets and Inverness capes.)

And he did know why. Whenever faced with something that made him feel out of his depth, his first reaction had always been to run away. This hadn't been any different. He'd been so alarmed by the way his hearts were already rebelling the thought of being without her that he'd been eager to find something, _anything_ to condemn her for, in hopes that perhaps doing so would help him distance himself from the girl.

It hadn't worked.

It wouldn't ever work, if this particular occurrence meant anything.

_Fuck_.

* * *

**Sure I could have him swear in an alien language, but you guys wouldn't have any idea what it means, and that would take the edge off. Nothing like a good old fuck to express yourself.**

**Also, I'm laughing at you guys. A little. Inside. Except for the people who are in-the-know, of course.**

**Q: What do you think the purpose of the metal spider is? (This has nothing to with the above statement, by the way.)**

**I want to know your opinions and ideas on the spider, though I'm also aware many of you have passed it off as unimportant.**

**Come on guys, use a little imagination.**


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